Betrayal
by Hawkeyeisbae
Summary: Tony Stark decides he's not cut out to be apart of the Avengers anymore. So he leaves, causing an (almost) nuclear fallout. (Trigger Warning mentions Suicide Attempts) I know that technically this story isn't finished but I'm pretty much done writing it so... I decided to change it to complete so people would know that it's as complete as it will get for now. PM me for details
1. Chapter 1

"Of course you'd all side with the Capsicle." Tony spat at the majority of the Avengers. They were in the debriefing room of SHIELD and tension was high and tempers were flaring. It'd been close to a half hour since Bruce had had to leave for fear of unleashing the Hulk on everyone yet Tony and Steve were still at one another's throats. The others sane Bruce had been forced to choose sides in the argument and due to the limited information they had on the subject of their argument they had all sided with Steve. Leading to Tony's current temper flare. "You know what, Natashalie." He spat the nickname he only used when angry with Natasha a reminder that she'd betrayed him before by pretending to be someone she wasn't. "You were right all those years ago, I guess I'm not fit for the Avengers Initiative." Before anyone could stop Tony, he had turned on his heel and stomped out of the room, pushing past Fury who had just rushed in due to a tip off by some very frightened interns.

"Stark, get back in here." The director called, his eyes narrowing on Tony's retreating form. Instead of answering or turning around Tony addressed JARVIS. "Hey JARVIS due me a favor, if Fury sends agents after me, deploy my private reserve of nukes on this helicarrier."

"Are you sure, Sir?" Fury heard the AI ask while Tony was still in earshot.

"Positive." Tony said.

Knowing full well that Stark might have the nuclear weapons he'd just threatened releasing, Fury waved off the agents that had automatically went to detain Stark.

"Let him cool down from whatever has his panties in a bunch." He told the agents before taking a deep breath. "Check on Banner, if he's in control send him back in." He barked at Hill before he stepped into the debriefing room, locking the door behind him.

—

The helicarrier had currently been hovering off the coast of California so it wasn't that hard for Tony to fly home once he had left the top secret headquarters. Still angry, the moment he entered his mansion, which he hadn't visited since the start of the Avengers almost a year previous, he went to his lab where Dum-E per JARVIS' instructions was waiting for him with a blueberry smoothie, Tony's favorite. With a pat on the robots head and a thank you Tony took the offered drink before continuing to an abandoned project, that with one large angry push he sent smashing to the floor. Still angry, tools began flying around the room. His robots expertly dodged the flying objects as they began cleaning up after him. Once all the tables in the lab were cleared of throwable objects Tony took a deep breath and looked around at the damage he had caused. He was almost sad to admit that the lab had seen far worse.

"Doctor Banner is here to see you Sir." Jarvis said once Tony had stopped his destructive streak and had started sipping Dum-E's smoothie. "Would you like me to let him in?"

"Tell him I'm busy." Tony grumbled still not totally calmed down.

"I already did Sir, about five minutes ago. He said that was fine and to let him in when you were no longer so. I told him it may be a few days before you're able to see him and that still didn't disturb him. He's begun pitching a tent on the back lawn, Sir." Tony snorted, spraying his smoothie across a three foot area.

"Security footage please, Jarvis." The AI complied and within seconds a holographic screen displayed the footage of a tent on Tony's back lawn. Bruce was nowhere to be seen but Tony presumed he was inside. Tony watched the footage for several minutes, during that time Banner exited the tent and began building a fire, a package of hotdogs marked his intent. Once Banner had started the fire, Tony waved away the footage. "It looks as if he is plenty comfortable, Jarvis. Maybe if he's still there in the morning I'll see him."

"Should I tell him this, Sir?"

"No, I want to see if he's being put up to this or not." Tony finished off his smoothie, then called Dum-E over. "Brew a pot of coffee, Dum-E. It's going to be a long night." With that Tony went over to the far right side of the lab and through the secret door that lead to his vault of suits. They were due for some upgrades.

The next morning, Tony woke up with the side of the table imprinted into his face. He groaned and accepted the cup of coffee Dum-E already had brewed for him. He patted the robot on the head as he walked out of his suit room, making sure to seal it behind him the moment Dum-E had left. He hadn't accomplished much the previous night, and in fact had destroyed more then he fixed. Five suits were in shambles due to his random flares of rage and their incompetence to work to his high standards. He knew he'd regret his actions more later but for now all he really wanted was some breakfast. When he arrived in his kitchen he found it already made, steak, eggs and bacon, his favorites. "Jarvis, who made this?" He asked. Last time Tony had checked his former chef for this house no longer worked for him.

"Happy, Sir. Miss Potts came to stay the night here last night before flying on to Las Angeles. When Dum-E was running around the house this morning trying to find more coffee, Happy realized you must be lurking in your lab. He made you breakfast as a result."

"You sure Banner camping outside didn't tip them off to me being here."

"That might have been a contributing factor as well." Tony swore that if the AI could smile he would be right now. He couldn't help but snort as he took a bite of Happy's eggs. They'd always been his favorite. Since he'd assigned Happy to be Pepper's personal guard, they'd become a rare treat as their paths almost never crossed anymore. Once he'd eaten half of the plate he decided to spy on Banner once more.

"Jarvis bring up the security footage on Banner."

"Will do, Sir." The AI said as a screen appeared in front of Tony. Banner was still outside, this time cooking himself some of his own eggs over a fire.

"He looks so used to living that way." Tony remarked, eating some of his own breakfast.

"He has lived most of his life on the run, Sir. Would you like to invite him inside now?"

"Not yet, Jarvis. You up to hacking into SHIELD this morning?"

"I'm at your command, Sir."

"I want SHIELD security footage, everything on that helicarrier for the last day and a half. See if you can find some of the Avenger's last mission as well. I'm also sure Fury has recorded by now that I have my own private stash of nukes and is probably trying to locate it, erase that from my file please."

"I will try, Sir, but it may take awhile."

"That's fine. Inform me when you're done. I'm going out."

"May I ask where, Sir."

"I think I'll go to Stark Industries. It's been awhile since I've been in to see everyone."

"I feel that may result in ill consequences, Sir."

"I do too Jarvis, that's why I'm doing it." Tony said walking toward his garage. He randomly selected a set of keys to one of his numerous cars stored here, he ends up taking out his Ferrari, the one he bought for Pepper's birthday this year, for them only to break up a few weeks before. It had been a historic fight between the two of them that ended their romantic relationship. He still couldn't fully believe that it had ended, no one else knew that it had. Just the other day, Banner had asked why she had stopped coming to the tower. Tony had walked out of the room instead of answering, then shortly after flown to Germany where he had gotten wasted and ended up in the papers. Pepper had been trying to clean up his image ever since to stop him from ruining Stark Industries. Tony had taken slight pleasure in the fact that the stock had plummeted 2 points, not that those 2 points meant much. As he gunned the engine waiting for the garage door to open, he thought about Pepper. Sweet, sweet Pepper, too bad she was cheating on him. He'd found the contact in her phone, surrounded by hearts. He'd had Jarvis go through her phone records, the number had been dialed over and over again. There was some audio of some of the conversations, that Tony couldn't bear to listen too. He considered removing Pepper from her position as C.E.O, but she had earned that position, running his company for years before he ever officially gave her the position but still he played with the idea. Previously he'd never had time to take back over as C.E.O. but now, being out of the Avengers, was going to free up a lot of time.

Remembering Jarvis' words of her stop in his house last night however, he decided that he should probably take away her keys. As he drove into Stark Industries, he saw the surprise on the guards face, it had been almost two years since he'd been into the Stark Industries Headquarters, while he'd attended a few meetings and conferences on the company's behalf, none had required him to be in the office.

When he entered the office, everyone in the front lobby stopped to stare at him. "Honey, I'm home." He called out causing many of the suited men to laugh. They all knew him of course, even if not personally, there was no mistaking Tony Stark.

"Mr. Stark." The receptionist said as he headed for the C.E.O's office. "Ms. Potts isn't in today. She's in…"

"L.A." He cut her off. "I know. Get her on a video call, I want to see her within five minutes or someone is getting fired. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mr. Stark." The woman, he couldn't remember her name for the life of him, said. Her hands already dialing Pepper's private number.

"I'll be waiting in my office, when you have her on the line, Jarvis will take over." He called over his shoulder, walking into Pepper's office. Jarvis bypassing the security put in place on it. "Jarvis call a decorator, I hate what she's done with the place." He says looking around, when in truth the decor is the same from when he was there.

"Sir, if I may ask, what are you doing?"

"Taking back my company, Jarvis. Buzz security downstairs and have them send up the best present guard, then call Happy."

"Will do, Sir." Jarvis says but he doesn't sound as happy about fulfilling orders as he normally does.

"Mr. Stark, I have Ms. Potts on line one for you." Jarvis said a moment later. Tony lounging over her chair brings up a holoscreen.

"Tony, what's going on?" Pepper asked the moment Jarvis has transferred the line to his screen.

"What's going on Ms. Potts, is you are no longer the C.E.O of Stark Industries." Tony said while opening the company's server. It had been awhile since he'd been inside but it was still relatively easy for him to access the mainframe.

"You know you have to go in front of the board to remove me right?" She said disbelief in her voice.

"Not really, Ms. Potts. I do still own Stark Industries, it being my company I can do whatever I want with it."

"Where is this coming from Tony?" Pepper asked sounding exhausted.

"Nowhere really, I just don't like how you run my company anymore." He said tapping through the company's database, he began locking out any employee that he didn't recognize or that had been hired after his original resignation as CEO.

"Who's going to replace me?" Pepper asked, feeling as if she'd found a hole in his plan, she sounded slightly smug.

"Me of course." Tony said locking his changes to the server in. "Is Happy there?"

"Of course he's here, he's always around me just like you pay him to be."

"Put him on the line."

"No, you're not getting out of this Tony. How are you going to run the company? You're busy with the Avengers and SHIELD."

"Not anymore Peps. I'm taking a break from all of that for the time being and so is Stark Industries."

"Does Fury know about this?" Tony could practically hear her eyes narrowing.

"Fury's on board with it."

"I don't believe that."

"He is, it would set SHIELD back years if they had a nuclear attack on their headquarters."

"You didn't Tony." Pepper said sounding horrified.

"No not yet, but you and Fury should both realize by now that Stark men do not make idle threats. Fury seems to be, and is now completely on board with me taking a step back from everything for the time being."

"So you're no longer Iron Man?" Pepper asked.

"I'm still Iron Man, I'm just Iron Man without anyone pulling puppet strings. Now, can I please talk to Happy?"

"Sure Tony." Pepper sighed. The line went silent for a minute before a much gruffer voice replaced Pepper's.

"Tony, is anything wrong?"

"I wanted to thank you for the eggs this morning. And to inform you that effective the end of the week you'll be returning to my services. Ms. Potts is no longer the C.E.O. of Stark Industries, so she no longer requires your excellent security detail. Another guard will be sent to replace your presence, until it is clear to all she is no longer affiliated with anything or one associated with the name Stark. However, you are not to leave Ms. Potts until the other guard arrives. Once he has, which should be later today, you can take the week off, Monday morning however I expect to see you on my doorstep. If I'm not up, you can let yourself in or have JARVIS do so."

"Anything else?" Happy asked never one to question orders.

"Have a nice day." With that Tony hung up the phone.

"Jarvis, I need an email to be sent out to all board members informing them of Ms. Potts removal from the position of C.E.O. Once they've been informed, dispatch someone from the PR department to inform the press."

"Will do Sir, would you like to view the videos you asked for earlier?"

"Not now, save them to my private server for viewing tonight."

"Already done sir."

"You've always got my back Jar." Tony complimented his AI.

"I take pride in being here for you, Sir."

"I know you do Jar." Tony using Pepper's computer, pulled up Jarvis' code. With a few quick clicks he deleted all of Pepper's override codes for Jarvis, transferring a few for Jarvis to respond to from Banner, but mostly just deleting them, feeling that no one else in his life deserved to be able to take control of Jarvis from him.

"Jarvis, is Banner still camping in my yard?"

"Yes, Sir. He shows no intention of leaving in the near future, he asked me earlier if it would be okay if he could start having his mail forwarded from Avengers Tower to the Malibu address."

Tony couldn't help but snort. "Tell him I'm more then willing to oblige but he's still not getting into the house. I'll have Dum-E bring him out his mail."

"I already did sir."

"Nice to know we're on the same page, Jarvis."

"Do you need anything else, Sir?"

"Yeah, Jarvis, please call me Tony, you and the bots are the only family I have left. And family doesn't call each other Sir."

"Of course, Tony." Jarvis says sounding sad and happy at the same time.

With Jarvis occupied doing the other tasks Tony had assigned him, Tony decided to hack into Shield. With a few keystrokes he was into the system. Shield's security team worked tirelessly to try to keep him and Jarvis out of the system, but their attempts were laughable in Tony's opinion. A few more keystrokes brought up the Avengers file. Already having read it along with many other of files, Tony skimmed for the section he needed. The one about him. With another stroke all the information regarding himself, minus his once inclusion in the project and his flying of a nuke into a black hole, he'd deleted everything Shield had on him, another keystroke deleted the backup files. He then scrolled to the list of active members and removed his own name. Once he was done with the Avenger's file, he brought up his own personal one. Two keystrokes deleted all Shields information on everything he'd ever done. He'd always messed with Shield's files but this was the first time he went in with intent to erase everything. Four more keystrokes modified Shield's database so his name could no longer be entered to prevent future information from being collected. Knowing that soon someone would realize his tampering, Tony quickly logged out of Shield with little intention of ever returning inside both the organization and their data.

After Tony had left all hell had broken loose in the debrief room. When Fury had walked in Tonyless their anger had only grown.

"Where is Stark?" Barton growled.

"I assume he'll be heading to one of his numerous properties, judging by how close we are I'd assume Malibu but there is always the chance he'll surprise me and go somewhere else."

"You mean you're not making him come and face the music of what he's done?" Rogers asked still fuming from their fight.

"I had every intent of keeping Stark here until he threatened opening a nuclear war with the United States Government. I think I can speak for the entire Government as well as the citizens of this country, a nuclear war, is not something we want happening, especially from a high profile figure that we'd then have to regard as a domestic terrorist. If such a situation happened, there would be little we could do, as Tony has resources all around the world. Nothing could stop him. So I feel it may be best to allow him to cool down before anyone tries to approach him on behalf of this organization."

"Approach him now." The Widow said looking up thoughtfully.

"What part of nuclear war threat did you not understand Romanoff?"

"Well maybe not Shield, or any of us. But from what I know of Stark, if he's threatening you with nukes, he's hurt. Maybe it's his pride, maybe it's something more, but he's hiding behind his firepower. He's angry with everyone in this room, and any Shield agent he'll associate with you, but he's not angry with Banner."

"Banner was there today, Nat." Barton said with a roll of his eyes.

"Yes, but Banner didn't choose a side. Besides they've got some kind of bromance going on. If Tony will let anyone in, it'll be Banner."

"If we send Banner on Shield orders, who's to say Stark won't still engage in nuclear warfare. He told me not to send anyone."

"Then don't send Banner, let him go on his own. Debrief us, then send us all on our merry ways. I'll mention to Bruce that Tony is upset, chances are he'll go to find him on his own."

"Who's to say Tony will even talk to him?"

"You know Tony, Director, he lets everyone he gets to know in eventually. Bruce might just have to wait awhile."

—-

"Have you heard anything from Stark?" Barton asked Fury as he ran into him in the hallway.

"No established contact, but both he and Jarvis have been in our servers. First thing this morning Jarvis hacked our system and retrieved an unknown amount of information. Then around eleven our system was hacked again, it was quick and left barely a trace, we assume it was Stark as all our files pertaining to him have been erased and others changed."

"What does he have to gain with that?" Barton asked confused.

"We're not completely sure as Stark has always hacked our system. We can't keep him out, and he loves finding out secrets. However, while he's changed information in his own file before he's never deleted anything more then a few sentences until today. The only thing our analysts have been able to come up with is that he no longer wishes to have contact with Shield. I had an agent attempt to bug his phone, but Jarvis caught on pretty quick and sent our system into lockdown. We can't access anything currently."

"Has anyone tried to approach Stark? Was Banner able to get through to him?"

"We checked on Banner this morning, Stark is currently allowing him to camp out in his backyard but has yet to allow him access into his house. He's seen Stark through the windows a few times, but they've yet to engage in any kind of conversation. It was Romanoff who went to see Banner, and he reported that Stark left shortly after nine this morning and has yet to return. From what Banner could tell, Stark had a plan. We've had some agents placed inside his company for years, since Stark has always been a bit of a wild card, we put them there to monitor changes in the company, a boring job really but they've been useful. They're usually the first to know if he's done something stupid. Stark Industries has some kind of arrangement with all the major tabloids that requires the press to provide them with all articles regarding Stark before they print so they can prepare for the fallout of his actions, but so far, Stark it seems has done nothing stupid since he left us. They've heard nothing, but I can only guess that in this case no news is bad news. Stark is only private when he's planning something, and I want to know what it I sent Romanoff into Stark Industry's headquarters to see if Tony is there. She's due back any minute." As Fury says this, Nat walks up to them a grim look on her face.

"Stark was there. He's taking back over the company. That's why there's yet to be some kind of scandal. Pepper's secretary reported that the moment he arrived in the office he ordered her to dial Pepper Potts, within ten minutes, she'd gotten a call back from Pepper saying she'd been removed from her position of CEO. Stark didn't know I was there, as he was in a meeting with his Board of Directors, but from what his employees were whispering, he's placing himself back in charge and it seems the company is undergoing massive changes. All employees hired after Pepper was placed as CEO have been locked out of their system, preventing them from working. Massive files have been erased from the system, other files have been added, the PR department instructed to create press releases for their launch. He's been there six hours and almost no one has seen him but they've all felt his presence. I got your message about Jarvis locking everyone out of our database, so on the way back here I started poking around, it wasn't one of Stark's tech shields, Jarvis merely deployed one of our own. It took me fifteen minutes and I was back in, I poked around the areas Stark had accessed. I know you originally thought he only erased his own file, and that is mostly all he did, but he modified one more. He's no longer listed as an active member of the Avengers in the file, there is still a brief synopsis of his time in the program, but he's now listed as a past member."

"Damn it." Fury swore under his breath. "Stark is not an enemy I want to have."

"Send a team in to talk sense into him." Barton suggested.

"I can't he tied my hands with that nuclear threat…" Fury walked into Shield's operation headquarters and brought up his screen. "Alright people, I need ideas. It seems Stark might now be a threat to this organization, we need to get him back on board. Talk."

"What if we…?"

"No hands on contact, he's currently threatening nuclear warfare if I send anyone at him."

"Sir, Stark Industries has just pulled all contracts with this organization." Hill says marching into the area.

"People I need ideas, now." Fury shouts in response to his team.

"Send in the Avengers, they're Stark's friends, they can claim to be going in under their own power."

"Stark left us because of the Avengers." Fury says sending a slight glare Natasha and Clint's way.

"What about Coulson?" Another agent asked.

"Coulson is dead." Natasha responds.

"No, he's not." Fury says. "but we can't risk sending him in, not for this."

"Get Virginia Potts to talk some sense into him." Another agent offers.

"Stark confided in me a few weeks ago, they're no longer speaking to one another. And as of this morning she has no control over Stark Industries." Barton offers up, eliminating the option that would have failed.

"Create a fake threat, and call in the Avengers." Another Agent offers.

"Stark has changed the Avenger Initiative file, he's made it clear, he's no longer associated with the project. Short of world destruction, I doubt Iron Man will be making any appearance anytime soon."

"Beat him at his own game, threaten him with Nukes. Let's see if he's really go the fire power he claims he has. Stark Industries stopped producing nuclear weapons six years ago." Hill offers.

"I thought you were smarter then that Hill. We won't be able to beat Stark at his own game, he plays his cards too close to himself. Even though Stark Industries stopped producing nukes, it doesn't mean the company doesn't have them stored for when Tony changed his mind about the weapons, and if it's not nukes, he's got ten times the firepower we have in other explosives and dangerous devices. I have no doubt that if we back Stark into a corner he'll come out swinging with all he has, then the world will see exactly how powerful of a man he is. In case you don't all realize, Stark is crucial to this organization. Every weapon we currently own, every piece of technology we use, almost every dollar we spend comes from Stark or his company. Without Stark, there is no S.H.I.E.L.D. we don't have the means to run on our own. So, get Stark interested in this organization once more, or everyone in this room is out a job and eventually much more, as he even funds the Avengers. I trust that someone in this organization has to be smart enough to figure this problem out."

"Jarvis, shut down all Stark tech on board of Shield's headquarters." Tony orders. "I want to reclaim it all. Send Fury an email outlining my intentions. I'll be at the helicarrier tomorrow with a team to collect everything that belongs to Stark Industries."

"Are you sure you're authorized to do so, Tony?" The AI asked obvious doubt littering his voice.

"Fury doesn't read fine print, in our contract I'm allowed to withdraw my services at anytime." Tony says with a yawn, tapping through his computer. His meeting with the board had gone well, they'd agreed to reinstate him as CEO, not that they could do much else. He'd tied their hands as well as he had Fury's. He was currently posting new positions available to those interested in working at Stark Industries. When Jarvis didn't reply, he assumed the AI had just started on the task. He scrunched his nose slightly in displeasure, when he saw someone was on the line for him.

"Speak." He barked into the line still scrolling through the web.

"Stark," It was easy for Tony to recognize Fury's voice.

"Get my email?" He asked innocently clicking through more pages, posting the job listings to various social media outlets.

"The one where you claim to be repossessing all of Shield's Stark Technology."

"That's the one." Tony says biting his lip as he closing out of the tabs he has open.

"You know you signed a contract."

"Check the fine print, we both agreed that I could pull out my services whenever I see fit."

"How did my lawyers let that slip through?" Fury screamed, obviously he'd gone to check Tony's words and found them true.

"Here's a tip, Director. Always read contracts yourself, and always check the fine print. Because even if you think you have the best lawyer in the world, someone else always has one that's better."

"It says here I can appeal with a lawsuit."

"Go ahead and have your top secret organization very publicly sue me and my company and see how that works out for you, Fury." Tony says tapping his pen against his desk. "If you draw up the papers, I'm sure we could come to an out of court settlement, but since I'm pulling my funds to your organization, I doubt you could afford it."

In response Fury merely growled.

"I have a company to run, so have a nice day. I'll be by to pick everything up within the week." Tony said hanging up the phone. Once he was certain Fury wouldn't call back, he glanced at his watch and decided to go home for the day. The following day would be very busy, the company would be publicly announcing his appointment as CEO, once again to the public, he also had a staff meeting, and had to hire a new personal assistant as he doubted that even if he offered her a raise, Pepper would resume the job. As Tony drove back to his home, he thought about his robots, who he knew would be waiting at the door for him to come home. He'd missed them, they'd originally gone to New York with him, but Dum-E and You didn't adjust to the new environment well, so he'd sent them home to look after the house, having them come to see him every few weeks. He'd never thought when he built the bots that he'd get so attached, they were his first (and successful) attempt at artificial intelligence, while Tony had advanced tremendously in the field since then, he'd never brought himself to fix the bugs in Dum-E and You, in fact he found them to give the bots character. Their flaws were what made the bots different from every other robot in existence and Tony liked that, and believed thats what allowed them to be almost human.

As predicted, the moment he walked through the door, Dum-E was there nudging him with his hand. "Daddy loves you too." He tells the robot patting first him then You on the head.

You began rattling off in robot speak as Tony liked to call it, chattering as his processor woke up and began analyzing whatever data Jarvis was transferring to him. You, in addition to being an excellent helping hand in the lab, was one of Tony's private server storage areas. So he was often chattering.

"You two look like you need a tune up." Tony said walking to the elevator, leading the robots back to the lab where he could work.

A frenzy of excited chitter was his response, which caused Tony to chuckle. "I guess it's been awhile if Dum-E is excited about a tune up." The robots continue to chatter as they travel down to Tony's lab. When they get there, Tony gets to work. Giving all his helping bots a look over, servicing both their mechanical and appearance needs. Tony didn't realize before, but Dum-E was looking quite beat up, most likely from always being their to put out Tony's fires. He took extra time looking over Dum-E, he'd never admit it to the other bots but Dum-E was his favorite, over even Jarvis. Perhaps it was because Dum-E had been the first robot he ever built, later modified with his artificial intelligence software, or it might have been how Dum-E was always there with just what Tony needed, wether it be a cup of coffee, smoothie, food or helpful hand. A helpful hand that had saved his life more then once. Thinking about it, Tony could honestly say that without Dum-E, he wouldn't be alive. Which was also one of the reasons he didn't really want him at Stark Tower in New York, not because he didn't want him around to save him when he would need it, but because, he'd already proven himself over and over again which meant Tony really didn't want him to be accidentally (or even more horrible purposefully) broken by one of the Avengers. Dum-E especially, but as well as the other bots, are like a sons to him. He and the other bots were always there when Tony needed them, more so then any other human, including his parents had ever been. They were loyal. Tony could depend on them. They were family. And Tony protected family no matter what.

The next morning, Tony woke up on the couch in his lab. Pepper had insisted on it being a part of the lab after Tony had locked himself inside his lab for a month working on a project, she said at least that way he'd be have a soft place to sleep when he couldn't continue anymore, yet he'd still be close enough to his work so he couldn't get distracted when he woke up. He didn't remember laying down, and he assumed he hadn't. Most likely, You, Dum-E and Butterfingers had brought him over and tucked him in. He stretches and sits up, smiling when he sees the bots 'sleeping' beside him. He carefully weaves his way through them, as he makes his way upstairs to the kitchen.

When he gets upstairs and puts on a pot of coffee, Jarvis' cheery voice greets him.

"Good Morning, Tony. Mr. Banner asked me again this morning if he may be allowed inside today?"

"Have Butterfingers let him inside around noon while I'm gone. Make it clear to him, the common areas are fair game as well as the guest room you should have You and Dum-E make sure is set up for him, but my lab and any area that the door is closed and locked is off limits. Also make it clear, I'm not letting him in because I want to talk to him. I'm letting him in because in a short while an army of reporters are going to be camping out there and I really don't want Jolly Green to pay them a visit on my front yard."

"Will do. Out of curiosity, was Doctor Banner aware that this entire time he's possessed a key to this property?"

Tony barely even blinked. "I assume so, Jarvis." He says with a shrug, he'd told Banner shortly after the battle of New York that the ring of keys he gave him went to all his properties around the world. He didn't know why Banner had yet to use to key, but he respected him for it. Any of the other Avengers, when first refused entrance would have come in guns out, demanding answers. But not Banner, privacy and needing alone time was something Tony assumed he respected.

"Jarvis, do you have my schedule?"

"I do."

"Care to read it to me."

"I could." Jarvis says sounding like he's debating it. "In exchange for your word that tonight you'll give me a tune up like you did the other AI's."

"Sure." Tony says not exactly knowing what Jarvis, a digital AI, might need tuned up, but he could always at least look over Jarvis' code to debug anything that might be bothering him.

"You'll start your day off with a press conference at 10 am, announcing your appointment as CEO. Most of that will be handled by the Board, but you have the option to give a short speech, afterwards there will be a short Q&A where it is suggested you answer all questions sent your way. At 12pm, you have a staff meeting with the other executive officers. At 2, assuming all events previous have gone well, you have a staff meeting with all of Stark Industries employees. All those not able to reach Headquarters by 2 today will video call in. At 4 pm, you'll be given a stack of applications for promising potential employees, any you see fit will then be scheduled an interview. At 6, you have dinner with the President of the United States, he's delighted to hear you're once more in charge of Stark Industries and would like to discuss future plans between the company and the United States Government. At 8, assuming the dinner went well, you've been invited to a party celebrating Happy's daughters 16th birthday. At 10 pm, you have a video conference with the ambassador of South Korea."

"When do I get to come home and be in my lab?"

"12 am assuming everything has gone well previously in the day."

"Well, I guess I should get ready for the day."

"Stark really is pissed, huh?" Rogers said watching as Shield Agents packed up the various Stark technology on board of the helecarrier.

"He sure is Captain." Barton said watching in equal fascination as millions of dollars worth of equipment was wrapped up in bubble wrap and packed into boxes.

"Can't Fury pay to keep all this stuff?"

"Stark offered but with SHIELD loosing all funding from him and his company, there isn't anyway on this earth we could afford the payout that would mean."

"Avengers." Fury said walking into the room where all but Banner, were present. "I'd like you to meet your new Press liaison, personal assistant and for all intents and purposes handler, Ms. Virginia Potts, or as you probably know her better Pepper Potts."

"I can't believe you gave my daughter your Ferrari." Happy said coming up to his boss and one of his best friends.

Tony merely shrugged. "I didn't need it, and I heard you talking awhile back about getting her a car. Thought I'd help out."

"Thank you." Happy said, but Tony could hear the shade of envy in his friend's voice. Happy wouldn't drive the car, it was his daughters, but he knew that Happy wanted one of his own.

"Theres one for you in Malibu, I wanted it to be a surprise for your own birthday tomorrow, but with that cruise you're leaving for I know I won't see you."

"What cruise?" Happy's brow furrowed until Tony passed over a white envelope. Inside was an all expense paid trip to the Bahamas, along with a bonus check that would make any CEO drool. "Tony I can't…" Happy started to say but Tony waved him off, passing over a set of car keys as well.

"There are few people in my life right now that I can trust. Even fewer, in fact one, that I can call family. And you Happy are family, and this is how I treat family. You're also getting a raise, Pepper has been having the company grossly underpay you. An extra five hundred thousand a year should make up for that."

"Tony I really can't…" Tony once again waved him off.

"After all you've done for me over the years, it's the least I can do. Now I hope you can excuse me, but I've got to go. I have a teleconference with the Ambassador of South Korea in roughly thirty minutes, I haven't had to deal with international affairs in a while but from what I remember ambassadors get wildly upset when you keep them waiting."

"Goodbye Tony." Happy said clapping the man on the back. "You're an amazing man." Tony only nodded, showing himself out of the house, he got into his car and drove the short drive back to the office.

"I'm back." Tony yelled to Fury as he stepped off the private jet that had just landed on Fury's top secret landing deck.

"I can see that, and I hope it's with intentions of staying." Fury said eyeing the younger man.

"Not a chance." Tony said, motioning for his crew to exit the plane. "I assume your agents will show my people where my things are."

"Of course." Fury said motioning for his own team to move forward. Tony noticed that the Avengers were watching through a viewing window. Before Tony could say anything else, Dum-E came out onto the landing deck and nudged his hand.

"What is it Dum-E?" He asked the bot, following him as he zoomed toward the nearest door. A door that was mostly hidden. Tony watched as Dum-E overrode the lock on the door and opened it, revealing a large amount of Stark Tech that Fury had obviously been trying to keep.

"Really Fury, I thought we had a deal." Tony said patting Dum-E on the head affectionately.

"I don't know how that got there." Fury said playing the innocent card, to which Tony merely snorted.

"Dum-E, go fetch Ms. Rebecca please." The Bot nudged Tony once more, his way of saying goodbye before wheeling off back onto the jet, a few minutes later a well yet scantily dressed woman emerged from the plane, a large brief case and stack of papers with her.

"Fury, I'd like you to meet Rebecca, my lawyer." Tony said mostly ignoring the woman as she walked over to them. She shook Fury's hand and introduced herself, eyeing Tony as he called a team over to move the hidden Stark Industries merchandise. He only tuned back into their conversation when his bot had returned to his side, smoothie in his robotic hand.

"Why don't we move this conversation to a more suitable place." Tony said with a yawn, following his robot as it zoomed toward the door the Avengers were behind.

"What exactly is this conversation about?" Fury asked following the man and his lawyer. Tony typed in a code and the door opened, he had the others enter the room first before following with Dum-E.

"I'm allowing you to negotiate with me." Tony said taking a seat at the conference table, ignoring the other Avengers as if they weren't there. "State your terms, and I'll state mine."

"My terms about what exactly?"

"My interest in this organization, my funding, really anything that involves me or my company and SHIELD having an interaction."

"I want to hear your terms first." Fury said, taking a seat across from Tony.

"Not going to happen, and Fury, I highly suggest you get someone in here much better at negotiating then yourself, or I'm probably going to end up walking with completely severed ties regarding SHIELD. I'm only giving you this one chance, because I happen to respect you."

"Barton." Fury barked, to which Tony snorted thinking he was the man Fury was calling forward. "You know who to get." Tony watched the door interested in who the spy would return with, but it didn't seem as if he was. While a silence filled the room as all waited for Barton to return, Tony drank his smoothie and talked absent mindedly to Dum-E, who chattered, incoherently for any one but Tony, back. Tony however, couldn't contain his surprise when Pepper Potts walked through the door with Barton and assistant director Maria Hill.

"Tony." Pepper said his name as if it left a bitter taste in his mouth. Tony after his initial shock recomposed himself and only grunted in response.

"Let's get these negotiations moving then." Rebecca chirped, fake positiveness on her face as she smiled at the other party. Tony meanwhile pulled out a phone and began fiddling with it.

"Is she really the best you've got now, Tony? Or is she just the cutest in a skirt?" Pepper asked disdainfully.

"Miss Potts." Fury barked, knowing that throwing insults at Tony and whoever this girl was would get them nowhere.

Tony only snorted. "While she is the best looking in a skirt, I brought her because she's new. This is a job interview for her, she impresses me, she has the head lawyer job at Stark Industries, she falls short, and there are plenty more applicants."

"Are these non serious negations then?" Hill asked, already standing not about to waste her precious time.

"They're plenty serious, anything decided here today I intend to follow through with. Just if she ends up failing my expectations, not so nice Tony comes out to negotiate, and I doubt any of you want to deal with him."

"So this is you being pleasant?" Barton asked, staring at Tony in annoyance.

"If you doubt me, ask Miss Potts." Tony offered to which Pepper only nodded, Tony could be a monster when he wanted to be. "Now that you have a team behind you, Fury, you might want to start stating what you want. I don't have all day. While I love keeping Congress waiting, they tend to get annoyed when I don't show up at the times they give me."

"I want you back in the Avengers Initiative." Fury starts with.

"Not going to happen." Tony says, as Rebecca scribbles on her legal pad and pulls out papers.

"Isn't she supposed to be the one talking." Natasha asks watching amused.  
"My lawyers are silent until needed. Rebecca is doing exactly what she's supposed to do." Tony snaps back.

"Do I get to continue?" Fury asks. Tony motions for him to do so. "I also want Stark Industries to fund us once more, your personal contributions forgotten, we run on Stark Tech. As you've made it clear that you wish to have no affiliation with SHIELD, I'd like to ask you and J.A.R.V.I.S. to stay out of our files. SHIELD in addition to Stark Industries Technology would like to have Stark Industries weapons, I'm aware you no longer manufacture new technology, but I'm also aware of the contracts you have with the US Government that require you to provide them with equipment, so I know you're still manufacturing at least the basic weaponry we need."

Tony leaned over and briefly whispered into Rebecca's ear.

"Mr. Stark's terms are as follows." She reads from a prewritten piece of paper, the Tony quickly jots down something on. "He'd like Shield to remove all affiliation with his name and the Avengers. Neither Iron Man or Tony Stark may be released by this organization in any way. He's willing to still accommodate the Avengers in currently the Avengers Tower, but the Tower will be renamed and labeled as Stark Tower, and when Mr. Stark is present he is to be left alone by all SHIELD agents and Avenger members in the tower." Tony nodded along to Rebecca's voice. When she paused he pointed to the next item on his list. "Tony Stark nor Stark Industries will be obligated to provide Shield or the Avengers weaponry." When Fury went to protest Tony held his hand up for silence while gesturing to the next item. "Short of potential world wide domination, Iron Man nor Tony Stark are allowed to be contacted for any reason by SHIELD or the Avengers. All Avengers are prohibited from entering any property except Stark Tower at anytime. The only exception Dr. Banner who is allowed to enter any property at any time. This ban also applies to all affiliates of SHIELD." As Rebecca is talking, Tony adds something to this term. "This includes Miss Potts." Tony could feel Pepper glare at him but he ignored her. "Stark Tech can be provided to Director Fury and Shield, at a lease from the company of 500,000 dollars per month per 100 units of technology. This is a standard lease agreement." She added glancing at her notes. "All rights reserved on the intelligence behind the technology, but also for Mr. Stark to remove the technology. Those are Mr. Starks terms."

"I'm sure you want to change some of them." Tony says sounding bored as he plays with Dum-E who is currently beating him at Mario Kart. Knowing he's going to lose to his robot anyway, he glances at the other Avengers. "You might as well have them join these negotiations." He says motioning to his former teammates. "I know they'll have terms they want to establish." He watched silently as the Avengers filled in the other side of the table. After a minute of whispering between Fury and Pepper, Pepper looked to Tony.

"Why don't we start with the weapon issue."

"Oh, you know I can't compromise on that Peps." Tony says barely glancing up from his phone.

"Oh, I think you can Tony. We know for a fact that you still supply the US Armed Forces."

"Correction, I still supply Sargent General Rhodes, what he does with those weapons, as long as the use fits within the perimeters I've established with him, is up to him."

"Then give us the same contract." Pepper says firmly.

"No." Tony says back glaring over the top of his phone. "The reason General Rhodes is allowed to access my arsenal, is because I trust him to follow the guidelines I've set for him. As for everyone in SHIELD, I trust them about as far as I can throw them."

"Supply them to Miss Potts then, same contract as the one you have with General Rhodes." Steve offers.

"I trust Miss Potts about as much as my father was a family man." Tony says, watching in pleasure as Pepper flinches, at least now she realizes just how much she messed up.

"Alright, alright." Fury says looking between the former couple. "I can see we should focus on compromising on something else. Miss Potts, the next item of importance please."

"Stark Industries Technology." Pepper says glancing down at her paper. "You offered a solution that SHIELD just can't afford. We're willing to lease the equipment, but we want to negotiate the terms."

"No." Rebecca says, following Tony's body cues, she can see it's at the answer he was about to give. "Those are standard lease terms that Stark Industries uses with all leasing companies. If we were to open negotiations with SHIELD, negotiations would have to be open to all companies. I'm sure Miss. Potts as former CEO of Stark Industries you understand."

Pepper looked at Tony who's mask was better then ever today, she could get no read on him. "I understand that in most cases the company follows those terms, but I also know there have been exceptions in the past."

Tony snorted. "I can't believe you're comparing schools in third world countries to SHIELD." He said barely looking up from his phone where he was still playing Dum-E in Mario Kart.

"There were other instances." Pepper insists.

"Not authorized by me."

"What about Budapest?"

"What about Budapest." Tony, Natasha and Clint all chimed at once.

"Tony…" Pepper continued slightly curious about why Natasha and Clint responded. "authorized the loan of five million dollars worth of Stark Industry standard technology to a private organization run out of Budapest."

"My reasons for Budapest were personal, much like the agreement between Stark Industries and SHIELD was for years." Tony says shutting down what he knows was Pepper's next argument. "They made an different offer that I couldn't refuse, something much more valuable then money. As SHIELD has nothing that I want, I have a hard time believing we could come to a similar arrangement."

"I'm willing to negotiate almost anything, Tony." Fury said leaning forward, hoping Tony wouldn't make him eat his words later.

"NO." Tony said forcefully looking up from his phone. "I gave you the terms Stark Industry is willing to follow, 500,000 per a 100 units per month or nothing."

"You could." Rebecca decided to cautiously supply. "Rent less equipment at an equivalent rate. For example 10 units of Stark technology for 50,000."

"What am I going to do with only 10 units?" Fury asked now getting mad. "I have an entire organization to supply." He glanced at Stark who once more wasn't appearing to be apart of the conversation. "Stark what will it take to get you back on board."

Tony only snorted in response before looking at his watch. "Fury you don't have the time or resources to pay that kind of price. Now if you excuse me, Rebecca will be staying with you until you reach agreeable terms, but I've got to go."

"The world needs Iron Man, Stark." Natasha says blocking the door as the Tony tries to leave.

"That's not what you all seemed to believe a few days ago." Tony said defensively, trying to sidestep Natasha only to be stopped by Barton.

"We were angry." Clint said, stopping Tony's escape.

"And we understand why you're still angry…" Steve said standing up beside Barton.

"Really, Cap." Tony said clenching his fists. "You think you can understand me now."

"Tony we're your friends."

"We're more then that, Man of Iron." Thor said speaking for the first time. Tony had almost forgotten that he was there. "We're your family."

Tony only snorted, Pepper sensing that things are about to take a turn for the worse, stands beside the Avengers, trying to get a read on this new side of Tony. "Oh, big guy." Tony said. "That's the problem, you're exactly like family. And I'm tired of having a family. Family means letting people in to the point where you have no guards, where you're vulnerable, it gives the people closest to you the perfect opportunity to stab you in the back. Then they leave you there, bleeding on the ground and tell you to grow up. To toughen up. Or if they're the kind that is delusional of how they act, they try to reassure you that they didn't mean to do it, that they'll do better by you next time. So you let them back in only for them to do it again. Family isn't anything I want to have around me. Because every time I let someone in I end up worse off then I was before they were ever in my life." This time, when he pushed past the Avengers let him leave. Dum-E always loyal following him out of the room and onto the jet. As he climbed onto the jet he heard the sound of heels follow him so he turned around.

"Tony." Pepper called. "Tony, that wasn't fair." She yelled at him, anger clear across her face. "They were angry Tony, I used to get angry at you all the time and you did nothing."

"I'm just done Pep." He yelled back at her, his mask shattering as disobedient tears fell down his face. "I'm done with everyone, I tried, I tried to be a better person. For Yinson, for you. But it wasn't enough. So I'm done. I've learned from my mistakes. The only things that can still protect my broken damaged half dead had, is keeping everyone out, and manufacturing weapons to keep everyone at bay. I've realized I don't need people, I've got the bots. So I'm done, and there is nothing anyone can say to change my mind." He began getting back onto the plane, only to feel Pepper's hand on his arm. "Let me go, Pep. If any part of you ever loved me, then let me go." He yelled at her. He felt her hand leave his arm and he almost wished she hadn't let go. That the Pepper fire and determination he had always loved had won over and she had fought him to stay, but she didn't fight. She let him go and began walking away instead. As he took another step onto the plane he felt something in his pocket brush against his leg. He quickly dug it out before Pepper could go back inside. "Pepper." He yelled turning around to face her as she turned to face him. He chucked the small box at her. "I was going to give this to you, I just never got the chance. You might as well have it anyway now." She caught it, but he didn't stay around to see her open it. Instead he got onto the plane and instructed the pilot to prepare for departure. He purposefully didn't look out the window until they were already airborne and everyone else was back inside, black specks in the distance, black spots in his past.

"Tony." It was later the same day he'd visited SHIELD and he was drinking in the kitchen. He'd sent the bots away, not wanting them to see him in his current state. He'd forgotten Banner was now a resident of his house and that this was one of the rooms he was allowed to visit.

"Bruce." Tony slurred, barely able to form the name on his drunken tongue. After his confrontation with Pepper and the Avengers he'd blown off his obligations for the day, sending an underling in his place and had instead come back here, where he'd opened a bottle of scotch. He was on his second bottle, and was about to need a third.

"Natasha asked me to check on you, she thought you might be a bit of a mess."

"Sooooo, niccccce of herrrrrr." Tony managed to say, while he collected his glass and bottle. He decided that the kitchen was now crowded.

"Tony, how much have you had to drink?" Bruce asked trying to steal the bottle from his friend.

"Not enough." Walking, even a short distance, had helped Tony sober up a bit. He was a high functioning drunk with a large tolerance to alcohol, always had been. But there was a point where if he did nothing it became hard for him to resist the pull of intoxication.

"Where are you going?" The other man asked following Tony, fully concerned for his safety.

"Places you're not allowed to go." Tony said walking toward the waterfall that dominated his living room. While also a decorative piece, it's man purpose was to hide the hallway to the section of the mansion Tony had left from his childhood home. Jarvis, knowing what to do, dutifully parted the water for Tony so he could access the area, he tried to keep Banner out but the scientist managed to slip through with Tony.

"Where are we?" Banner asked. Tony only shrugged, too far intoxicated to care that he was there.

"My childhood home." Tony said motioning around while continuing down the hallway. "That was Jarvis' room." He said pointing to an old orient wood door, deciding to give Banner a tour. "He was the family butler, the man is basically the reason I survived childhood."

"Is JARVIS named for him?"

"Yup." Tony said while continuing down the hallway to the next door.

"My room." He said motioning to a door that was partially open. Of all the ones in this hallway it looked the most visited. He then motioned to a door on the opposite side of the hall. "Howard and Maria's room."

"Your parents?" Banner clarified to which Tony only nodded.

They'd reached another room. "Guest room I used as a teenager as my own." He said while continuing down the hallway, finally stopping at a much sleeker out of place door. "Howard's lab." He said punching a code into the panel beside the door. The door beeped and opened to let them inside. "He basically lived in here." Tony said walking around reminiscently. "If he wasn't here, he was at the office. After my fifth birthday, Mom stopped caring if she ever saw him. It took me a bit longer to realize I'd probably be better off without him, I was eight when I first stopped trying to get his attention. Because whenever I did, he insulted what I'd done. I was ten, when I decided that anything he had to offer me wasn't worth the verbal beating it would take to receive it. I was twelve when I had to start dodging punches on the nights he got so blindly drunk he couldn't stand up straight. I was fourteen when he pounded me until I was black and blue on every part of my body when I came home for my birthday and break between high school and college. I was fifteen when I stopped coming home except for the obligatory events, christmas, birthdays and Mom's annual ball but those were all public events so Howard didn't dare touch me. By the time I was eighteen they were dead, and I was thankful." Tony said bitterly looking around the lab, which still had some of Howard's old projects scattered around it. Banner couldn't help but want to get a closer look. "Look around all you want. They're all dead ends."

"He was searching for something wasn't he." Banner said looking at the large map of the arctic that hung on an entire side of the wall.

"Captain Steve Rogers." Tony said bitterly, opening a bottle of scotch that was left over from the time his father used the space. "The greatest fucking man that ever lived in his eyes. The only man worth being. The man that eclipsed his son, because his son couldn't be as great as him."

"That's why you hated Steve when you first met." Banner said connecting the pieces of Tony's confusing puzzle of a life.

"Turns out, he was proud of me. Left a video saying so. Never bothered to tell me in person though. No in person I was just Tony, never good enough for the name Stark. Never good enough to be his son."

"Tony…" Banner started, but he honestly didn't know what to say.

"I don't need your pity." He told Banner while walking toward the door. "Leave everything as you found it when you go. Don't look in any room but this one though." He warned Bruce as he himself left, quickly walking down the hallway to his parent's old room. He locked himself inside. He was barely able to click the lock before the tears started falling, and he couldn't help but hear his father's voice, echoing in his head telling him that Stark men don't cry.

Tony woke up the next morning on his parent's bedroom floor, his head on top of one of Howard's old suits. He'd been going through his things when he'd fallen asleep too exhausted from the day to continue on. Slowly, feeling a massive headache already swelling forward, he picked himself up off of the floor. Knowing that his mother had suffered from headaches and kept an ample medical supply in her bathroom, Tony made his way to the medicine cabinet, finding some Advil to calm the pain in his head. As he got ready to leave and face the world once more he noticed a his parent's wedding picture on their beside table. They looked happier then they ever did when Tony knew them. Nostalgia getting the better of him, Tony grabbed the photo, tucking it into his suit jacket as he left the room. He brought it with him to his current room where he put it on his own bedside table before continuing to the shower.

A half hour later, Tony walked freshly washed into the kitchen to find an unpleasant surprise. All of the Avengers, and Pepper were dining on fast food breakfast at his table. Not wanting to be driven out of the room of his own house, he continued on his path to coffee as if they weren't there. It's only once he has a cup of coffee in his hands that he turns to face them.

"What do you all want?" He asks disdainfully.

"To make sure you're okay." Natasha says, glaring back at him. Tony only snorts before walking toward the elevator that will take him to his lab.

"Fat chance I'll talk to you all." He says pushing the button that will take him away from them all.

"Brother Banner, said you were wildly upset last night, Man of Iron." Thor called stopping Tony in his tracks. Tony glared at the scientist who at least had enough sense to hide behind Natasha.

"He said you went into the old house." Pepper adds, looking at Tony with more concern then she did when he came back from Afghanistan.

"I go back there all the time." Tony says with a shrug.

"No you don't." Pepper insists. "You only go back there when you're upset."

Tony only shrugs. "Well I'm fine." He insists willing the elevator to hurry up.

"It's not going to come." Clint offers. "I went into the shaft earlier and disabled it so you couldn't escape."

Tony stared at the man in disbelief before changing his course to be the door. "Fine then, I'll just leave." He says walking out the door and climbing into his car. He revved the engine and shot down the driveway not sure of where he was going to go.

Five hours later, Tony returned to his home to find all of the Avengers and Pepper still taking up residence in his kitchen. Able to see them from outside he doesn't enter knowing that they will trap him inside. Instead he pulls out his phone and dials a number he's never used before.

Ten minutes later, Tony exits his car backed up by the Malibu Police Department.

"Have fun arresting the Avengers." He tells the officers as he leads them inside his home, peeling off to grab a cup of coffee while the officers approach his unwelcome houseguests. "Leave Doctor Banner, he's my guest." He tells the Sheriff when they go to cuff the big buy who was starting to go green. The other Avenger's aren't being much easier to catch. So far the only one in cuffs is Pepper, the others are keeping the officers at bay.

"Tony, what are you doing?" Pepper asks him as he pours himself a cup of his favorite brew.

"I told you all I wouldn't tolerate you trespassing on my property." Tony says shrugging as Banner comes to stand beside him.

"You're an asshole, Stark." Clint yelled at Tony as he climbed out the window, Natasha following quickly behind him.

"Tell me something I don't know." Tony said walking out of the room. He didn't particularly care if the Avengers were arrested or not, he mostly just wanted them gone and he knew that by dragging the cops in he'd achieve that. He also knew the the cops were no match for the Black Widow or Hawkeye, they might be able to take Steve who wouldn't fight them, but mostly he knew this would result in dragging the Avengers name through the muck a bit. Soon journalists would show up, the Avengers would be long gone by then, but there would still be a story. As he walked away down the hallway he heard Banner follow him, but before the other man could reach him he walked into his room and locked the door. Banner knocked for almost five minutes, Tony didn't respond, after awhile he gave up just like Tony knew he would. Everyone always gave up on him.


	2. Chapter 2

"Tony, open the damn door now." The voice was different from the one he'd been hearing the last few days. Since the Avenger's incident, as Tony had deemed it in his mind, he'd been locked in his room. Banner had been by many times, often leaving food outside the door, that Dum-E later brought in. Pepper had been by as well, once. Happy had escorted her from the property. Happy had been outside the door as well, his promises of parties weak attempts to get him to leave his room. But this voice, this voice was different, it was one he hadn't heard in a long time and it was one he wasn't about to ignore.

"Jarvis, unlock the door." Tony ordered, not looking toward the door as he heard it swing open, instead focusing intently on the screens he'd been looking over.

"What the hell man?" Rhodey asks as he comes into the room. He grabs Tony's hand and pulls him out of his seat and into a bro hug.

"What?" Tony asks, his eyes focused past Rhodey and on the television screens.

"What's this no Iron Man shit?"

"There is no no Iron Man shit." Tony says. "Volume up please, Jarvis." A news story had just come across the scene, a little live icon in the top corner, a reporter speaking from outside his home.

"Hello America, I'm reporting to you from outside the home of Anthony Stark, CEO and owner of Stark Industries as well as Iron Man. Monday, late in the afternoon, Mr. Stark called Malibu Police Department to ask for assistance of removing trespassers from his home. An odd call given Mr. Stark's obvious capability to deter intruders, until you find out who those trespassers were. Shortly after arriving on the scene, Mr Stark led the Police department into his kitchen where some apparently unwelcome house guests had taken claim to his kitchen table. There is still an arrest warrant out for the Avengers as the police were unable to take them into custody, with the exception of Dr. Banner who Mr. Stark allowed to stay on premises. Virginia Potts was detained and has been released on bail. Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff and Thor are now wanted persons, no civilians are to approach, instead call Malibu or your local Police Department."

"Thank You Christina." The anchor says pulling the focus back to the studio. "When we come back, we'll have an exclusive interview with Ms. Potts about her recent removal from her position as CEO of Stark Industries as well as her removal from Mr. Stark's life."

"Mute." Tony tells Jarvis,

"You don't call that shit?" Rhodey asks. While Tony was watching the news coverage, Rhodey moved to sit down on his bed.

"Nah." Tony says waving it off. "That's them making something out of nothing."

"You had some of your closest friends arrested."

"Attempted to have them arrested for criminal activity." Tony corrects Rhodey. "As you heard, Steve, Clint, Natasha and Thor weren't very cooperative."

"You know," Rhodey says with a shake of his head. "When your best friend calls you from overseas each week and asks you how you're doing and what's going on, this, whatever the hell it is that is going on, is really something you should mention."

"You asked how I was doing, not what's going on."

"Most people would still mention it."

"You should know by now Rhodey, I'm not most people."

"I know, but what the hell happened? Do you know how stupid I looked when my commanding officer called me into a top secret meeting with Nick Fury and I couldn't answer a single one of his questions because you've decided to keep me out of the loop?"

"So this is about you?" Tony can feel anger fill his face.

"No, it's…"

"That's the problem with humans, everything is always about them. Let me guess, you came here to give me your 'cut the shit Tony, cause I'm getting yelled at' speech didn't you?"

"Well…"

"Get the fuck out." Tony points to the door before going back to his screens.

"Tony."

"Get out."

"T…"

"Get the hell out, asshole before I set Dum-E on you."

This time Tony hears Rhodey rise from the bed and leave out the door that Jarvis has already opened. He finds comfort in the fact that JARVIS takes the liberty to bolt it behind him.

"Looks like it really is just you and me." Tony says looking over at Dum-E who hid in the corner while Tony was yelling and is now starting to work his way out. Tony goes back to work, listening as Dum-E works his way out of whatever predicament he's gotten himself into waiting to see if he'll have to interfere. He feels pressure on his shoulder and looks up to see that Dum-E has placed his claw there.

"Yeah, I know you're here for me Buddy." Tony says scrolling through his emails. "Want to make me a smoothie." He watches as the bot leaves the room, he feels a sense of gratitude when he sees that You and Butterfingers are guarding his door now.

"Stark what?" Fury couldn't help but spray the sip of coffee he'd just taken all over the paperwork on his desk

"He tried to have us arrested for trespassing." Clint repeats, currently the Avengers are gathered in Fury's office all taking residence on various pieces of furniture. Clint is sitting on a shelf.

"Were you trespassing?"

"Technically." Natasha says her eyes unreadable.

"He arrested the Lady Potts." Thor adds.

Fury sighs and buzzes Hill. "Hill, go to Malibu's Police Department and bail out Ms. Potts please." He sighs again, running a hand through his non existent hair. "Stark has declared war on this agency. We can't fight back with actual weapons, but we can end this if we get the upper hand. Right now Stark is playing his cards close, we can't get a read on him. Banner isn't much use, what little he's seen of the man he's not willing to talk about. So let's try something new, we're in the intelligence business, so let's gain some. Potts mentioned something about Budapest the other day, Tony was defensive about it. That means it might mean something to him. Barton, Romanoff I want you two to check it out. Report everything you find. Thor and Steve, I'm sending you to Budapest."

"Shouldn't that be the other way around Sir?" Natasha asks confused why herself and Clint have been essentially grounded by being given intelligence duty.

"Thor and Steve can barely turn on a computer, yet alone hack Stark. You're orders are to stay here Agent Romanoff and that's what you'll do.

"Wouldn't we be of more use in Budapest though?" Barton asks equally as confused. "Then we could help Thor and Steve if needed. They're not agents."

"Fine, go to Budapest. But you're handler is in charge, if they don't send you into the field you don't go. Do you two understand."

"Yes, Director." Natasha and Clint say in unison, both already knowing that they'll be in the field wether Fury likes it or not.


	3. Chapter 3

"Morning." Tony spoke through a yawn to Bruce for the first time in a week. He'd left his room the previous day only to go to his lab without saying a word. He'd looked worse for wear which had concerned Bruce, but today he looked much better.

"Morning. The coffee is fresh."

"Thanks." Tony said pouring himself a cup before sitting down at the table across from the doctor. "Aren't you bored here?" He asks after a minute.

"Not so bad, it's like a vacation I could never afford. Fancy beds, food, and robots doing everything I need, it's nice."

Tony nods thinking. "Well, if you want, you can come out with me tonight to get some even fancier food. I'm going to a big science expo, it's no Stark Expo, but it's nice. I figured you might want to go. You can even present something if you want. My company has five slots, but I only have four projects to present."

"Sure." Banner says, but Tony can tell he's thinking about something. It's only when Tony has stood up from the table and is rinsing out his cup that Banner speaks again. "Is it true that Stark Industries is making weapons again?"

"Sort of." Tony says stiffening, he looks straight ahead out the window. "The company is reopening one plant here in the US. All production will be strictly supervised by myself, and the only one who can make deals to sell the weapons will be me. I've made it clear to my people that anyone else found sounding the weapons will be criminally prosecuted. And they aren't really weapons, they're defense tools. We aren't selling them, at least not most of them. They'll be given to towns where terrorists are a large threat so the towns can defend themselves."

"What if that defense doesn't work and the terrorists take them as war prizes."

"I've put assurances in to make sure that can't happen." Tony says his eyes slightly clouded.

"What have you been doing the last few days?" Bruce asks, hoping that Tony won't shut down at his prying.

"Paperwork, I'm working on a new deal between the company, myself and a non-profit based out of Hungary. I needed peace to work on it."

"Peace means not leaving your room for five days?"

"Yes, ask Pepper." He tries not to wince when saying her name unsuccessfully.

"What should I bring to this expo thing then?"

"I say the Jolly Green Giant, but since you probably don't agree, anything that does anything for the betterment of man kind."

"Alright then. I better go have a look over some things."

"You do that, Doctor."

 _"Tony, listen to me." His father's voice roared, he tries to focus his eyes but can't. Black spots keep filling his vision. "Tony… Tony." His dad's voice almost sounds desperate. "Tony, don't bother looking at Maria, she's dead." This time he's able to make his eyes move to his father's voice._

 _"Tony listen to me. Can you hear me?"_

 _"Yes." He moans through the pain, he's never felt so much pain. His body feels like it's on fire._

 _"Don't trust anyone. Son, this is the most important thing I've ever said to you. No one, not flesh and blood, not the prettiest girl in the world, can be trusted do you understand. No matter what they'll all hurt you, you've got to understand Son."_

 _"Yes." He moans again, remembering even through the pain that when Howard Stark speaks you answer._

 _"Now, listen very carefully. What I'm about to say you can't repeat to anyone. It won't make sense to you now, but one day after you've forgotten all about this day, and you've been left hung out to dry more then a few times, it'll all make sense. And then I'll be able to come back to you. Are you listening?"_

 _"Yes." He moans again, this time he tries to move toward his father only to have Howard push him back into his seat._

 _"I need you to remember a company name; Polarniate. You got that, Tony, Polarniate."_

 _"Yeah…dad are we going to die?"_

 _"No, Tony you're not going to die." Howard snaps, impatient as ever. "Now focus, Polarniate is based out of Budapest, it's very important. Do you hear me? No matter what, Stark Industries will do everything in it's power to help that company, do you understand?"_

 _"Sure, but why?"_

 _"Remember what I said, this will all make sense to you some day. Now we don't have much time left." Tony could hear sirens wailing. "Listen again Tony, this part is perhaps the most crucial, one day call that company and ask to speak with Jarold. He'll refuse you five times, the sixth time he'll invite you to Budapest, and you_ ** _must_** _go. Now I'm sorry Son." Tony felt something sharp puncture his skin, saw his dad remove his hand. Then the world started to go fuzzy, he saw his dad walk away through the haze, the last thing he sees is his dad enter another car, then his vision goes black._

Tony wakes up on the couch drenched in a cold sweat. He hadn't been able to remember anything from the accident that had claimed his parent's lives since he'd woken up all those years ago, but he was certain that that dream he'd just had was a memory of his father's last words to him. Before he forgets, he scribbles key points down on a piece of paper. Then before Banner can come find him, he goes into the old mansion. A new sense of purpose fills him as he enters his childhood room. He goes to the cork board where a note from his father on his tenth birthday is still pinned.

 _"Sorry, I'm missing the party Tony. I had to fly to Budapest last minute, I promise I'll be there next year. When I get back we'll go anywhere in the world you want. —-Dad"_

There it was again, Budapest. He'd always known that he should remember something that happened there and couldn't but maybe it wasn't something that has happened yet. The company, he knows it, it's a charity that he's helped out for years. He has the number on speed dial. He pulls out his phone, it rings twice then the familiar voice of Christina the secretary sounds through the phone.

"This is Christina from Polarinite, how may I help you today?"

"Christina, it's Tony."

"Good day, Mr. Stark. How may I help you today?"

"I need to speak with Jarold."

"Let me put you on hold, Tony." She says, he waits two minutes before she comes back on. "I'm sorry Mr. Stark, but the man you requested to speak to is busy currently. He requests you call back at a different time."

"That's fine Christina." He hangs up the phone and sighs. Whatever goose chase this is, he knows that somehow his father is at the bottom of it.

"What kind of company is Polarinite?" Natasha asks Clint. She'd just found a ghost drive in Tony's system where he's placed a number of files involving the company.

"Google says it's a charity out of Budapest. But that's a loose definition, it's more of a mercenary group that liberates villages and towns that are overtaken by terrorists in the middle east. How long has Tony been dealing with them."

"Records go back all the way to when he first took control of Stark Industries."

"What are their interactions?"

"Uh…" Natasha scrolled through the files only to be locked out a minute later. "Jarvis must have found me." She mumbles. "I'm locked out again."

"Keep working." Their handler orders. They've worked with the man before and neither Clint or Natasha particularly like him.

"We are." Clint hisses. "Steve come over here. You and Thor go to 95 Main Street. It's where Polarinite is based, see if you gain access inside. Take this." He hands the man a pen drive. "Plug it into a computer, the drive will do all the work, just make sure it has at least two minutes to work. Do you understand?"

Steve nods, relieved to finally be able to do something, he motions for Thor to follow him.


	4. Chapter 4

"Sir." Tony is currently in his office at Stark Industries. He has come in to wrap up loose ends for the presentation that night. Banner will be meeting him here soon then they'll be leaving for Texas.

"Yes, Jarvis."

"It appears someone has gained access to the Polarinite files. Should I lock them out."

"Do you know who it is?"

"They're in the Budapest area, but I believe they're a part of SHIELD. I'd guess Natasha Romanoff."

"Lock her out, then implicate security measure Harold, after printing off the documents."

"Should I print them to your home printer."

"Yes."

"Sir, Dr. Banner is outside the office."

"I'll go greet him, good night Jarvis."

"Goodnight, Sir."

_-–-+++++++++-+-+-+++++++++++++++++8888+++++

"I've been locked out."

"Here let me… Shit."

"What?"

"The files, they're gone."

"Jarvis?"

"Must have been."

"Damn it."

"Fury is going to be pissed, if Stark knows where onto him, who knows what he'll do."

"Call him."

"Already on it."

-+-++-+++-++++++++++++++-++/-

"So this is what if feels like to be Tony Stark."

"Glamorous, isn't it." Tony says motioning for the bartender to refill his scotch.

"If the reporters, loud music and drunk men went away, it wouldn't be half bad. After all there is an open bar."

"A perk to having so much money you could pay for your own drinks. Since when do you drink?"

"I don't usually, but I thought tonight was a special enough occasion."

Tony can't help but snort, he quickly downs his drink. "Yeah, getting drunk with your best friend out in public I guess fits the bill of special occasion. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go and dance with that half naked woman whose been giving me the eyes all night. I'll see you later."

"What about the presentations?"

"What presentations."

"The whole reason we're here."

"Oh, yeah. I lied, there are no presentations. This is a benefit ball, I just figured you wouldn't come if I told you the truth."

"Tony…" Banner starts to say but Tony has already walked away. He just shakes his head, watching the other man as he begins dancing with his target.

"You know, Dr. Banner, an invitation to Tony Stark's annual cancer research benefit ball is hard to come by, you should be honored." Banner slowly turns to see the director of Shield sitting on the bar stool beside him.

"How'd you get one then?"

"Tony forgot to take me off the guest list."

"Why are you here?"

"I need you to do something."

"I got that much." Banner takes another sip of his beer.

"Find out about Budapest."

"Budapest? What about it."

"That's what I want to know, Tony has some connection to it and I want to know what it is. Find out anything you can. Any transactions he's made with any companies there, phone calls, ex-girlfriends, I want to know why it's important to him."

"What if I refuse?"

"You do realize the only reason the bounty on your head went away was because of SHIELD, right? You refuse, it's back."

"Tony will shelter me."

"Tony's a drunk with self destructive tendencies and almost no trust in humanity. What you say may be true, but from what I've gathered the past week or so Tony's shutting everyone out, it's only a matter of time before he includes you in that list."

"How am I supposed to do anything? Jarvis guards everything, Tony will know it's me."

"That's something you'll have to figure out Dr. Banner." Fury tips back the remainder of his drink and walks toward the door, leaving Bruce to finish off his own drink. Once the last drop is gone he searches the room, Tony is still caught up with whatever girl is in his arms. He catches the man's eyes over the girl's shoulder and points to the door. Tony nods, so Bruce leaves. It'll be best to betray his friend's trust if Tony's not in the house to catch him in the act.

"Jarvis, may I access the old mansion?"

"Of course, Dr. Banner."

"Thank you." Banner takes a deep breath before stepping through the parted waterfall. It's another deep breath and shaky step forward before he gathers the courage to walk down the hallway. Jarvis isn't installed in this part of the house, while he'll know that he'd accessed this part of the house, the AI would have no way of knowing which areas Banner accesses. "Pull it together." Bruce coaches himself as he stands in front of the first door. "Come on, come on, don't be locked." The doorknob turns easily. Bruce slowly eases the door open. His hand finds a light switch to the right of the door. He snaps it on, and gasps. The room is plastered with photographs, every square inch filled with artifacts. Upon closer inspection he realizes that all the photos involve Tony, the artifacts must have all at once point belonged to a much younger Tony. It's like a shrine. Either Tony is more narcissistic then anyone believed or this room was set up by one of his parents. Bruce's money was on the latter. Feeling like more of an intruder then ever before, Bruce quickly snaps off the light and shuts the door. He tries the next door, remembering his door, he believes it was Tony's as a child. Prepared for anything, Bruce slowly opens the door, his hand flicking the light switch as he steps inside.

Nothing could have prepared him for the sight before him. It was a well known fact that Tony disliked Steve, but this room was covered in Captain America memorabilia. It was actually much like Bruce imagined Agent Coulson's ideal room would look like. Hundreds of actions figures, posters, banners, and other decorations littered the room. But before he could get a closer look he heard the clearing of a throat behind him. Slowly, a dread filling his stomach, Bruce turns around, his eyes landing on the last person he wished to see at the moment.

"I told you not to go anywhere but that lab." Tony's voice is a whisper. For once there is no mask hiding his feelings, true betrayal and hurt is displayed across it for all to see. "I trusted that you wouldn't."

"Tony, I can…"

"I really truly thought you were different from the rest of them. I wanted to believe it so bad." A humorous chuckle fills the room. Bruce shivers at the sound. This time when Tony looks at him, hatred is clearly displayed in his eyes. "Get out of my house."

"Tony…"

"I said get out." Tony repeats himself slightly louder.

"T…"

"Get the fuck out, you asshole." Tony screams, his voice breaking. "Get out and never come back."

"To…"

Tony walks forward and pushes him. "Get out now."

Bruce takes deep breaths to contain the big guy, but finally he does as Tony says. He walks quickly, stopping only to gather his still packed bag from the guest room. He hears Tony follow him, he knows the other man is making sure he leaves the property. As he climbs into the car that Happy has already pulled around, he glances back on last time at his friend. Tony looks so broken it kills him, but before he can say anything. Happy closes the door of the car and Tony goes back inside, closing the door firmly behind him.


	5. Chapter 5

"Who is it?" Tony asks Jarvis, his words slightly slurring. It's been five days since he kicked out Bruce and he hasn't left the house or let anyone come over. Even Happy hasn't been allowed inside. He's shown up for work everyday, and even though Tony won't let him in the house, he's stayed outside guarding Tony from any unwelcome visitors. Tony realized a few days and about six bottles of whiskey back that Happy was the only person he had left in his life. Happy and his bots.

"Tony…" He recognized the voice, it belonged to Rhodey.

"Go away."

"Tony, we know."

"You know what?" Tony calls back, collecting himself slowly off the couch he makes his way to the front door.

"Open the door, this is ridiculous."

"It's not ridiculous."

"I'm not talking to you through a door, Tony."

"It appears to be working just fine."

"Just open the door."

"What do you want?" Tony finally opens the door, but doesn't allow Rhodey to enter the house. A few yards away he sees a van parked, the Avengers inside.

"We know about Budapest."

"You know nothing about Budapest."

"We know about Polarinite."

"Really, do tell me about it please. Because I don't even know all that much about it." Tony spits, but he moves aside to allow Rhodey into the house. He barks at Dum-E to get him another drink, then sits down at the dining room table, motioning for Rhodes and his following to do the same.

"What do you mean you know nothing about it?"

"I know nothing." Tony says with a shrug.

"But you've been…"

"Giving them money and resources for years. Yeah, I know. But I haven't a clue what for, not really."

"Then why…?" Steve starts to ask but he trails off.

"Dad was a proud supporter of whatever it is they do. It's my tribute to him, by continuing to fund them."

"So you know nothing about it?" Natasha asked confused.

"Nope. I don't even know what it is the company does."

"They're a mercenary group that provides relief to areas where terrorist influence is strong."

"Oh, well you learn something new everyday." Tony throws back his scotch. He slowly gets to his feet slightly stumbling as he moves to the refrigerator to get some food.

"Tony are you alright?" It's Natasha who asks, her face creased with seldom shown worry.

"Just peachy, now I'd appreciate it if you all leave so I can get to work. Lot's to do as you can imagine, running a company and being an engineer."

"Tony…" Clint starts to say but Tony waves him off. "Just know we didn't mean it." Tony stiffens but doesn't say anything. They do however see his hand clench, his knuckles turning white as he grips the door.

"I think it's time for you all to go now." Happy has come inside and he's glaring at Tony's former friends.

"Yeah, uh, we'll see you around, Tony." Clint says leading the group outside, all taking one last look at their friend before they go, all feeling remorse.

 _It started out like any other mission. Captain was in charge, Tony was gaining aerial survallience, Natasha, Thor and Clint were moving into position, directed by Steve. Bruce was waiting behind on standbye for a code green. It was routine now, get in, get out, take out as many bad guys as they could in the process, so simple in theory. No one understood quite why or how it went so wrong._

 _"Fifty men, roughly. Fort heavily armed on the outside, once in almost no defenses." Tony had reported._

 _"Copy that." Rogers had said, signally for Natasha to move on with himself once Clint was in position in the treetops._

 _"Circling back."_

 _"Continue on, almost in position. Do not circle until I tell you, Stark." Rogers orders. Tony bristles slightly but does as he's told._

 _"Everyone ready?" Steve asks a minute later. When everyone chimes positive over their coms unit, Steve gives Stark the go ahead to circle back._

 _"Alright Clint, fire away." Steve instructs once Tony has started his circle back. "Thor engage lightning."_

 _It was a normal fight, no one understood how it went so wrong. It was in the middle of the battle, suddenly the coms unit was filled with Clint's scream._

 _"Hawk, do you copy?" Steve asked immediately. When no one immediately responded, he asked for eyes._

 _"Stark, do you register his position?"_

 _"Spotted Captain. Looks like a baddie climbed the tree, he's gone but the Hawk is down."_

 _"Is he safe?"_

 _"No one else in the area."_

 _"Hawkeye, do you copy?"_

 _"Here Captain, I'm alright. Get me on the way out."_

 _"You sure."_

 _"Positive."_

 _Suddenly, Natasha was yelling at him to duck. A knife flew where his head had been only moments before, embedding itself into a man's throat._

 _"Stark we could use you on the ground." Natasha chimes in. It was true, they were grossly out numbered. Stark had been widely misinformed when he'd given them numbers._

 _"Can't Romanoff, I'm going in."_

 _"Stark, you can't go in by yourself."_

 _"Everyone's out at the party, I'll be fine. We won't get in as a group, hold them off. I'll be out in ten minutes tops."_

 _"Stark, this isn't a solo mission."_

 _"Sorry Captain, I'm not about to fail." Without further warning, Tony's com unit went dead. No one could reach him. Not that they tried much after that, they were all too busy fighting for their lives to stall so he could get out to try to contact him. Banner was called in. Shortly after his arrival, the troops were decimated. Yet Tony still wasn't out._

 _"We've got to get to Brother Barton." Thor insisted as they all watched the fortress waiting for Tony to emerge._

 _"You two go." Natasha finally said a minute later when Tony still hadn't emerged. "I'll calm the big guy. Clint needs medical attention."_

 _"What about Tony?" Clint asks over the com unit._

 _"Tony made it clear he was on a solo mission, it's his job to get himself out." Steve declared as he and Thor began walking back to Clint's tree._

 _"What about no man left behind?" Clint challenges, quoting a section of Clint's usual pep talks._

 _"Tony's made it clear today, he's no team player." Steve says. "If it wasn't for Banner being on standbye, we'd all be dead. If Tony survives, he'll answer for this later. For now my priority is my team."_

 _Tony arrived back on the helicarrier four hours after the others. Steve was waiting for him the moment he checked himself into the medical wing._

 _"I know you've said that you're not a team player before, but I can't believe you did that today."_

 _"I did what I had to do to make sure we were successful." Tony had said defending himself._

 _"You did what you did to make sure you ended up looking good." Steve shouted. "I can't believe you're Howard's son. He'd be ashamed of you. He was the most selfless man I've ever met, yet your the most selfish."_

 _"I'm sor…"_

 _"No you're not Tony, save you're breath. You did what you thought you had to do. Just know, I'm writing up a formal complant to Director Fury asking him to remove you from this team. We can't have people like you on these kinds of missions."_

 _"I'm a part of SHIELD, they're not just going to remove me._

 _"If I remember correctly, you're only a consultant. And those are easily replaced."_


	6. Chapter 6

"Stark's gone." Natasha, who'd just been to his mansion, runs into the room. A look of horror on her face.

"What do you mean gone?" Steve asks, jumping to his feet.

"As in, Jarvis is no longer installed in the mansion, his robots are gone, Happy has been released with a couple million dollar severance and retirement, and the place looks empty."

"Shit, does Fury know?" Clint asks, already preparing himself for their search.

"He does now." The director says walking into the tower.

"How'd you…"

"Stark sent a note."

"A note?"

"By snail mail, he sent me a note saying he wasn't hanging around in my jurisdiction anymore."

"That means…."

"He doesn't realize how far my jurisdiction extends, or he intends to leave earth."

"No, Tony doesn't like space." Pepper says firmly remembering all too well the nightmares that often woke Tony since the New York Incident as he called it when he dared speak of it.

"We have to find him." Thor says firmly, and the others nod. Their differences and Tony's aversion to them currently aside, they were a dysfunctional family and dysfunctional families look after one another.

"I think I may be of some help." For the first time since Tony moved out of the Tower, Jarvis makes his presence known.

"Jarvis?" Natasha asks, unsure if it really is the AI.

"At your service, Miss Romanofff."

"But… I thought…"

"Before his departure, Tony asked me to standby and not interact with anyone including himself for 84 hours. That time is now up."

"Do you know where he is?" Fury asks.

"Roughly 82 hours ago, Tony boarded a plane to Budapest. I do not know where he went from there. He may still be there, he may not. I tried to contact him and he's nonresponsive."

"How extensive is your reach, Jarvis." Natasha asks a plan forming in her mind already.

"I can control any and every screen or computer in the entire world given time and the orders. I know what you want though Miss Romanoff and I've already tried. He's around no cameras."

"Then I guess we do this the old fashion way and send out a couple hundred agents to all probable locations and wait for a sighting." Fury says. "Take a seat, Avengers. You'll be on standby awhile."

After the Avengers had left, Tony had been a wreck. He'd sent Happy home with a retirement/severance package. He'd then called Christina the remaining four times, Jarold had agreed to speak with him. He called his pilot and scheduled a flight to leave within a few hours. He'd told the bots to go to the Iron Man suit museum in his lab and not leave until he got back. He'd powered down Jarvis and left all his work and technology behind. Whatever was waiting for him in Budapest, he'd face it alone.

Eighteen hours later, he had finally arrived in Budapest. Polarinite has sent a limo to collect him. He's plastered, a pretty girl who he doesn't know sits on his lap giggling. He nuzzles her neck anyways. He's never been to Budapest before, but he's starting to think he might like it.

The building the car stops outside is all one-way glass reflecting back the city. Tony's always thought modern architecture was ostentatious, he's starting to like Polarinite less and less.

"You're hotel, Mr. Stark." The driver says lowering the partition between the two of them.

"I'm supposed to meet with Jarold, today."

"You're meeting is scheduled for tomorrow. The company thought it'd be best if you weren't jet lagged when you two met."

Tony shrugs. That will keep him in the time he allotted to be gone. "Do I get to keep her." He motions to the girl who is still nibbling on his ear."

"I see no reason not." The driver says, slightly confused as Tony was the one who entered the car with the tipsy woman.

"Alright then." Tony says getting out of the car, he marches inside with the woman on his arm. When he enters the hotel people stop and stare. It's hard to to know who Tony Stark is. When he goes to the desk, he's discreetly slipped a key, which he takes, following a bell boy up to the penthouse suite. He goes inside, where both he and the woman instantly fall asleep the moment their heads hit the pillows.

The next morning, Tony wakes up with a huge hangover. He has to stumble around the room a while before he finds his bag, where a large stash of ibuprofen is stashed in a side pocket. The woman, whoever she was, is already gone. He doesn't mind. She was probably one of his flight stewardesses anyway. Once the pounding in his head has backed down a little, he begins getting himself ready for the day. With room service that was delivered shortly after he awoke, there'd been a card saying a time. He assumed the time was the time a car would be there to pick him up. It was only an hour before. He takes a half hour shower, the water feels good, it's sobering. When he gets out he dresses in a suit and tie. Some gel goes into his hair, taming it, yet giving it an untamed look. He shaves his pathetic beard. By that time it's time for him to go. He heads down to the lobby where the driver from the previous day is already waiting, this time with a sports car. When the driver goes for the driver's door, Tony shakes his head and climbs in instead. The driver only shrugs and climbs into the passengers seat.

"You're going to have to give me some directions."

"It's not far." The man says in accented english. "Just a half mile down the road. You can't miss the building."

"Alright then." He says gunning the engine, they take off speeding down the road.

A few minutes later he turns the car back over to it's driver and walks inside.

"Welcome Mr. Stark." A woman says stepping forward from the receptionists desk the moment he enters the building.

"And you are?" He asks looking her over from over the top of his sunglasses.

"Christina. We've talked over the phone."

"Well it's nice to meet you." He says, sliding his glasses back up his nose, he waits.

"Right. Follow me." She says after a moment getting his hint. "Jarold's office is just a few floors up."

"Yes, about that. Who exactly is Jarold?"

"He's our CEO." Christina says, the rhythmic tapping of her heels reminding Tony of Pepper.

"Does he have a last name?"

"Everything will make sense once you two meet, Mr. Stark." Christina says. They walk the rest of the way in silence, stopping only once they've reached large oak doors.

"This is as far as I'm permitted to go, Mr. Stark. He's right inside though." Tony nods and she walks away. He takes a deep breath before reaching out for the door handle. Whoever this man is, his father knew him. And trusted him if his last words were anything to go by, this was where Tony was supposed to go when he hit rock bottom and he finally had. When he pulls open the door, the office looks very similar to his own back at Stark Industries. There is another person in the room but his chair is facing toward the large window the occupies an entire wall of the office.

"Ahem." Tony clears his throat and watches as the chair slowly turns around. Horror, then shock filling his face as he takes in the occupant.

"Tony." The man says, his voice pulling at Tony's heart. He hasn't seen the man, whose name is in no way Jarold, in almost twenty years but it still feels as if he'd seen him yesterday.

"You're supposed to be dead." Tony says staying on the opposite side of the office.

"And you're supposed to be a lot of things you aren't, you should know by now Tony. Stark men are resilient. Now come, sit down, I'll explain things."

"I don't want an explanation." Tony said already backing toward the door. His hand on the handle.

"Tony." The tone of voice the man used, made Tony feel like he was five years old again. His feet unwilling move him across the floor and into the chair closest to him. "I know you have questions."

"Yeah, millions." Tony interrupts his usual snarky self. "Like how the hell are you alive?"

"I could ask you the same thing." The man, Tony refuses to acknowledge who it is yet, says.

"Yeah, but we're not talking about me."

"You're right, there will be time for that later."

"The car crash was faked, if you must now. You're mother's around still as well."

"Why." Tony asks, his face an unreadable mask.

"There were people trying to kill us, and they were trying hard. I knew that to get them to stop and keep you safe, your mother and I had to disappear."

"So you just abandoned me?"

"You had Jarvis, he was as much you're parent as either of us were. He practically raised you while we were too busy wrapped up in our fame."

"So Jarvis knew?"

"No, but he was the last man alive I trusted to keep you safe if I was gone and I knew he'd do it without me having to tell him."

"So you've justified abandoning me, as keeping me safe." Tony snorts. "Yup, no doubt about it that you're my dad. Probably never even crossed your mind that you could have made me disappear along with you.

"You don't understand, Tony. You were young, brilliant, just starting life. I didn't want to take that away from you by making you go underground. It was better for everyone to have you stay behind."

"Better for you, you mean."

"No. Tony there hasn't been a day I haven't regretted that decision."

"Yeah fucking right, save the act for someone who will believe it."

"It's not an act, Tony."

"You know what, it was a mistake coming here."

"Judging by the fact that you did come here, it wasn't. You've hit rock bottom Tony. You need me."  
"I might need someone, but I know that someone isn't you." Before Tony can get up and leave, the door opens, revealing his mother.

"Tony." She says, tears already in her eyes as she takes in her son.

"Mom." Tony breathes, he stands up as his mother runs to hug him. He hugs her back but he can't believe it's her.

"Tony." She repeat herself tears falling down her face. After a minute Howard clears his throat and they separate.

"So Tony, how long do you have here. We'd like to catch up."

"A day or so."

"Only a day." Tony sees the devastated look she throws Howard.

"If Tony doesn't mind, it'll be more than that. Just not here."

"What?"

"It's safe for us to go home now, if you want us too."

"I really don't think it's my place to tell you not too." Tony says still cold toward his father.

"I think it is."

"I don't think I can stop you if you've decided. And it sounds like you have. We'll be flying back tomorrow afternoon. Now if you excuse me, I'm have other things I need to do."

"Tony." His mother says trying to stop him.

"I'll see you tomorrow at the airport." He says walking out of the office he retraces his steps back out of the building. There is no car here for him this time, which he decides is fine. He'll walk.

"Why are we landing in New York?" Howard asks confused when the flight attendants tell them to prepare to land.

"I'm guessing by now, SHIElD has realized I've dropped off the grid. Since I've made it clear they're not welcome on any of my property besides Stark Tower, I figured I'd stop by so they'd stop searching for me. You can continue to Malibu if you want, or you can come with me."

"I have a feeling if we head to Malibu, you won't. So we'll stay with you." For the first time since reacquainting himself with his parents, Tony realizes how much his parents have aged.

"Fine by me." Tony says, buckling himself into his seat as the plane begins to land.

"Honey, I'm home." Tony yells as he steps off the elevator and into the residential area of Stark Tower. He's parents follow in slight awe behind him.

"I know you're here, guys." Tony yells again, he and Howard tried to outdrink one another on the plane. Tony won. He's quite drunk.

"Tony?" It's Natasha whose heard him. "Where are you?"

"In the hallway, sweetpea." He calls following the sound of her voice. He finds her, and most of SHIELD in his kitchen.

"You're back." Banner says slightly disbelieving.

"I couldn't stay away too long." Tony slurs stumbling toward the liquor cabinet.

"Tony." It's Fury this time who is speaking. Disbelief displayed clearly across his face as he sees the guests Tony has brought back with him. "Who are your guests."

"I'm surprised you don't recognize them." Tony says making a grand sweeping gesture with his arm, he manages to spill most of his drink on his crumpled suit. "Director Fury, I'd like you to meet Howard and Maria Stark. Howard and Maria, Director Fury."

While Fury extends his hand for a shake, someone else has caught Howard's eye in the room, making him walk right past Fury.

"Steve Rogers, great to see you." Howard says, shaking Steve's hand.

"You as well, Howard."

Tony's resurfacing forgotten, by his parents, allows Tony to slip away into his room a few floors up. No one comes to find him, and that's alright by him.


	7. Chapter 7

**A?N Hey guys... sorry it took me so long to update. I never intended to finish writing this story but after all the love it's been getting and how much fun I've been having with it I promise that I will. Anyway I'm sorry again about not updating, but please know that that isn't a reflection on you guys. You're all amazing and I love reading you're reviews. IN FACT they're what motivate me to write. Again sorry, but you did get three updates in one day last time I updated so,... I think that evens us out. Anyway enjoy and by all means please keep reviewing  
**

"Tony." He could hear someone knocking on his door. It sounded a lot like Natasha. He'd ignored everyone for roughly five days, but he couldn't continue too. With a groan he rolls out of bed and pads over to the door.

"What?" He asks squinting as light floods his eyes.

"Fury wants to meet with you."

"I don't want to meet with him."

"He said it was nonnegotiable."

"I feel as if it is, or does Fury not remember our previous conversations."

"He does, and he still wants to meet with you. Ten minutes, conference room on the 10th floor." With that Natasha walks swiftly away, and Tony closes the door. Mumbling about how it's his tower. Groaning as he begins getting himself ready for the day.

 _If he had to trace it all back he'd say it started with Pepper. Sweet, beautiful Virginia Potts from accounting. Tony had just taken the reigns of Stark Industries when they met. Despite his insistence that he was ready to run the company, Tony had fallen into a slightly depressed funk. Obie had taken his CEO duties over and had advised him to focus on R &D, essentially Obie had locked him inside his own home until he developed what Obie deemed an acceptable attitude. Still since Tony was the acting CEO, certain documents required his signature, which was why Virginia had been sent to his home. Obie had picked her, despite her inexperience and age, because he knew Tony would find her attractive, and he honestly believed that might help the kid. What he didn't realized was Virginia Potts wasn't a young lady to be messed with. Tony had tried to flirt, Virginia had taken offense and sprayed Pepper spray in his eyes. Tony had been so shocked that through his tears, he'd just stared at her. She'd handed him a pen and he'd signed the documents. Then very boldly she'd stared him down and asked. "Will that be all Mr. Stark?" He'd nodded and she'd turned on her heel and walked out of the house. Tony had decided that he liked her from that moment on. For the remainder of his solitude he'd ordered Obie to only send Ms. Potts. Whenever he saw her, which was quiet often, he'd taken to teasing her and calling her Pepper. She only laughed at him, but never corrected him. When he returned as CEO, he offered her a promotion as his Personal Assistant, he went through a new one every few days, none were able to keep up with him. He almost expected Pepper not to accept, but she had looked him dead in the eyes much like the day she'd maced him and said. "As long as you promise not to try to seduce me. I promise I'll do whatever you need me to do." Tony had thought that was a pretty fair deal. And soon they were closer then he was to either Obie or Rhodey. Pepper was the first person he let see the real him, the good, the bad and the ugly. And that opened up the door for the others. Pepper was the first person he'd ever fully opened up too. She knew everything about him and still for reasons unknown to Tony stuck around. She was the person who convinced him that letting people in wasn't such as bad thing._

 _Obie was the person who taught him that Pepper might be wrong. Obie, the man who he'd known him since he was born. Tony still doesn't understand what he did to change Obie from loving him to ordering his death. Obie was the person who taught him that Pepper was wrong. But he pushed that knowledge down, he kept Rhodey and Pepper as close as ever. He even let more people in when Pepper encouraged it. He should have learned from Obie._

"Good Morning Tony." Fury greets Tony with a chipper attitude. The Avengers and his parents are also in the room.

"Director." Tony gives Fury a small nod of acknowledgment. He however doesn't acknowledge anyone else in the room. He as carelessly as possible, takes a seat in the only remaining chair. "I don't like being ordered around in my own buildings."

"The order for you to leave your room came from your mother, not me Tony. I just took advantage of the situation."

Tony barely glances at his parents. "I don't take orders from my parents anymore then I do you, which must have been why you sent Romanoff with a tazer.

"Must have been." Fury only shrugs. "Now, can we get this meeting underway."

"By all means." Tony motions indicating that Fury has the floor.

"I'd like to invite you once more to rejoin the Avengers."

Tony pretends to think about it for a minute before quickly dismissing the idea. "I'd like to tell you my answer is still no, now if that was the reason this meeting was called, I have places to be."

"I had JARVIS clear your schedule."

"Jarvis is still around?" Howard speaks for the first time. He looks at his son wanting conformation of this fact.

"JARVIS, is my AI and for all intents and purposes essentially my assistant and extension of my brain. He is not the man that was in your employment, that man died about two months after you supposedly did." Tony answers his fathers question but refuses to look at him. He addresses Fury once more. "And last time I checked, you didn't have the authorization to control him."

"JARVIS, informed me that he was concerned about your recent behavior, apparently while we all believe you were in your room here in the tower, you were elsewhere."  
"Business waits for no one." Tony absentmindedly quotes his dad. Howard notices but says nothing.

"I'm still confused on how you gained authorization to control my AI."

"He didn't." Pepper says as she walks into the room, a stack of papers and a cup of coffee in her hand. She wordlessly hands the cup of coffee off to Tony, who accepts it out of habit only to immediately set it down. "I did."

"I removed your clearance."  
"You forgot to take my tablet." As a peace offering Pepper slides the mentioned device across the table to Tony. "There are override codes on it regarding my previous job as your personal assistant."

"Thank you for informing me of that." As he speaks Tony begins wiping the tablet.

"So, as I said, Tony, you have no reason to leave."

"I've got one, R&D, the board has been on my ass lately. I've got a whole team waiting just a few floors down for my orders. I should really stop ignoring them." Tony stands up.

"Fine, leave. Howard, I'd like to address the recent removal of Stark Industries funding for SHIELD. I was hoping that you could reinstate it."

"Of course'" Howard says, not realizing that Tony is still in the room or that he will even protest his decision.

"He has no authorization to do so." Tony says stepping back into the room.

"I own controlling stock in the company, I think I do." Howard says puffing out his chest, surprised by Tony's defiance toward him.

"You mean I own controlling stock in the company." Tony says already silently bringing up Stark Industries accounts.

"Seems how I'm alive, I believe that as the founder and oldest Stark, I now resume control of the grandfathered stock that you previously owned."

"That's not how it works, while an argument could be made that you should own some stock in the company, the largest amount you could take claim to is roughly five percent, and even then I'd have to consent to giving that amount to you as I own roughly 85% with all other shares being divided into less then 1% shares." Tony shows his father the graphs to back up his words. "So that means you have no control in the company, which means my word Is still final in regards to the fact that SHIELD will receive no funding."

"What did we do to piss you off, Stark?" Clint finally asks what everyone has been wanting to know.

"It's not what you did. I just finally realized, I'm a volatile narcissistic, asshole and a genius, who doesn't play well with others. And I'm tired of trying to be anything else." With that Tony slams his chair back into the wall and stands up. Without another word he leaves the room like he has many times in the past month. Only this time, someone follows him.


	8. A note

If you would like faster story updates share with me a google drive email and I will share the stories on drive with you. I have limited access to this site with my laptop yet I write tons and always have a lot I want to publish. So anyways, my email is philbrickma17 . If you're interested in this offer you can email me so I can then add you to the list of permitted viewers of my drive. Don't worry, this doesn't mean I'm no longer updating on this site, it just means that if you want fast updates as I write the pieces there is a way for you to do so.


	9. Chapter 8

" _They don't want you." The voice that fills Tony's nightmares returns as it always does when he sleeps. "They don't need you." It changes to Pepper's voice. "I don't need you." The voice changes again. This time it's Howard. "You'll never be more than a shadow of me." Images fill his head to accompany the voice. "This is a piece of shit." Howard screams toppling Tony's biggest accomplishment of his then five years of life to the ground. "I can't believe you allowed him to fucking destroy my stuff, Maria." Howard had screamed no once acknowledging Tony cowering under the kitchen table._

 _The scene and voice shifts to Fury. "You're not qualified to be an Avenger."_

Tony jolts awake, he glances at the clock. He'd barely made it ten minutes. Not wanting to go down memory lane again, he heads to his shop. He might as well do something with his hands.

"Has anyone seen Tony? I want to borrow a couple of things from him." Natasha asks the assembled Avengers in their common living room.

"He's made it clear he doesn't want to see us." Steve says dismissively. "He's probably in his private quarters."

"I was just there. I knocked for almost three minutes before I decided to just break in. He's not in there."

"You check his lab?" Banner asks while eating a diabetes haven amount of chocolate and other sweets.

"It's locked."

"He's in there then."

"I asked Jarvis to scan for life forms and he informed me no one was inside."

"Maybe he went back to Malibu." Steve says with a shrug.

"Where is my son?" Before Natasha was able to push her issue, Howard burst into the room a frantic look in his eyes.

"We were just telling Natasha, he's most likely in his lab." Steve answers slightly cautious confused by Howard's behavior.

"Has anyone seen him in the last twenty minutes?" Howard demands.

"No, I was just looking for him." Natasha provides.

"Call nine one one." Howard barks at Steve. He then turns to Natasha. "I need you to get me into my son's lab now. No questions asked about how you do it. Just do it. I can't explain why I need you too either."

"Is Tony in danger?" Steve asks, not sure of what nine one one is. Because of Steve's lack of action, Banner picks up the phone and dials the emergency hotline.

"He might be." Howard says, already following Natasha toward Tony's lab, the rest of the avengers follow behind.

"What kind of response am I asking for?" Bruce asks Howard timidly.

"Ambulance." Howard says gruffly. "Someone get ahold of Ms. Potts and have her handle downstairs. No one is to know the reason that ambulance is coming. Have Ms. Potts issue an official statement saying that the ambulance was dispatched for a lab accident in the R&D labs downstairs. While Howard has been ordering Bruce around, the Avengers have traveled to Tony's lab door.

"Tony, open up now." Howard demands banging on the door giving his son fair warning before he looks to Natasha to open the door. She does so by disabling the electronics, it takes her five minutes. In perfect timing, Banner informs the others that the ambulance has arrived on the ground level. Howard however doesn't wait for this news, he's already inside his son's lab. His weary old eyes scan the room for any sign of his son. The room is pitch black, Thor manages to find the light switch. The light helps immensely and within seconds Natasha has spotted Tony in the back corner of his lab on a couch. Howard rushes forward, his hand flying to Tony's neck to check for a pulse. His eyes taking in the sight of needles and empty drug bottles. Tony's veins bulge unnaturally and it appears he vomited before he passed out.

"Damn it, kid." Howard cusses, his mind flashing back to when Tony was fifteen years old and tried a similar stunt. Howard had thought for sure he'd lost his son back then and he damn near did. Tony's much worse now, the bottles beside him only prove that, Tony had a plan. Howard barks at Banner to tell the paramedics to hurry up, knowing that they don't have much time to help Tony.

"What's wrong with the Man of Iron?" Thor asks, looking to Natasha for an answer.

"He's sick, very very sick." Natasha says her trained eyes recognizing a lethal dose of drugs when they see one. She has little hope that Tony will survive.

"What are we waiting for. We must get him medical attention."

"Medical will be here any minute." Natasha assures Thor as a worried look settles in on his face. Time seems to drag as they wait for the paramedics that the security office assures them are in the elevator. When the distinct ding of the elevator goes off, they all turn to see a team of five medics rush off. Four rush to Tony, while the fifth engages in conversation with Howard.

"How long has he been in comatose state?"

"We found him five minutes ago, but I have reason to believe it's been twenty."

"Is this what he took?" The paramedic asks motioning to the bottles on the floor.

"I assume so."

"Any past incidents?" Here Howard pauses, no one outside of his family and their family doctor had known of Tony's previous incidents.

"Two drug overdoses as an attempt at suicide when he was a teenager, and one other attempt by different means. There is about a twenty year gap, I'm not sure about though."

"One overdose and a severe addiction to alcohol." Pepper informs the paramedic as she walks into the situation. "The overdose was accidental while he was at a party, but he had to be hospitalized."

The paramedic nods jotting down notes on a piece of paper. She looks over to her counterparts who have now loaded Tony onto the stretcher and are wheeling him toward the elevator. "Come with me." She instructs both Howard and Pepper. The two wordlessly follow, leaving four very stunned Avengers behind them.


	10. Chapter 9

Tony wakes up several days later in an unfamiliar white room, the smell of antiseptic burns his nose. The smell helps him place his location, he's at a hospital. He blinks as the room comes into focus, the lights are harsh as his eyes struggle to adjust.

"Tony." Pepper's voice calls to him, his eyes roll sideways toward her voice. A longing fills his chest, as he takes in her beautiful face. He feels a hand over his own and he assumes it's hers.

"Where am I, Pep?" He groans, his voice coming out as a soft broken melody.

"New York General Hospital." Pepper squeezes his hand. "Do you remember what happened?"

Tony cringes at the memory, wishing he didn't. "Yeah, Pep. I do."

"Do you know how nice it is to hear your voice?" Pepper begins crying. "I thought… I thought..."

"Don't say it, Pepper." Tony strokes her palm with his thumb. His own voice just as shaky as Pepper's. He slowly reaches up with his other hand to wipe her tears away. "Don't cry either. I'll be fine in a few days."

"You know, I care about you more than anything in the world, Tony."

"No you don't, Pep. I'm not worth it. You said so yourself."

"Oh, Tony. I was mad and I didn't realize..."

"Let's fight later. Right now I just want you to be here."

"As long as you promise they'll be a later, Tony."

"I promise, Pepper." He kisses the back of her hand and closes his eyes once more. While he dozes, she strokes his unusually long hair back out of his eyes. She mentally notes to make him a haircut appointment with his favorite stylist the moment he's released from the hospital.

Once Tony has gone to sleep for the night, Pepper goes back to Stark Tower to give everyone an update on his condition and get some sleep. She hadn't left Tony's side since he'd been admitted to the hospital and had only slept when Howard had come in during the day. For the last five days, Howard had given the Avengers updates on Tony's condition, but none had been allowed in to see him. They all wanted answers, and Pepper was the only one who could really give them.

Pepper takes a deep breath before walking into the living room where all the Avengers have gathered. Clint had arrived at the tower after Steve had contacted them informing them of the situation. Howard is in the room as well, Maria had taken ill and wasn't able to get out of bed.

"Tony's awake." Pepper hears a sigh travel around the room as everyone reacts to the news. "Well he was a few hours ago, he's gone to bed for the night."

"That's great news." Thor booms. "This must mean the Man of Iron is strong once more."

"Sort of." Pepper doesn't want to crush the mood, but there's more she must tell the group. She takes a deep breath stalling for time as well as preparing herself. "Physically, he's much better. It's mentally that is going to take some time to heal." Pepper looks down at her hands. "Tony isn't alright, he hasn't been for a long time." She feels tears form in her eyes. "Longer than any of you have known him, maybe even longer than I've known him." She blinks back tears. "Tony has PTSD, he has since he escaped from Afghanistan, but he hasn't dealt with it. He's denied it and repressed all feelings, I didn't realize how much it had affected him until… well until more things happened. New York, nearly set him over the edge, he was insane with work, with protecting those he held close. But that nearly killed both of us… he swore he'd get help that he'd get better. And I thought he did, but he just got better at hiding it. His mind has turned his very thoughts into poison, Tony's always had a knack for self destruction, but now it's so subconscious that I don't know if it can be fixed. But it goes even further than that, Tony is clinically depressed, he has been for years and years if what Howard tells me is true. His depression is severe, when he was a teenager he was heavily medicated for it, apparently once Howard was gone from his life, Tony stopped taking his medicine which is why he drank. You all probably don't know much about depression, but if it's not treated it will rot the mind until a person can see no good in life, no good in themselves. Combine those two key factors with Tony's other misguided traits and personality quirks, and… well… I don't know if Tony can get better." This time Pepper can't hold back the tears, they come pouring forward. Natasha takes pity on her and helps her into a chair. After a few minutes in which Pepper manages to calm down and the Avengers process the information she's given them, Pepper speaks again. "You can all go and see him tomorrow if he'll let you in. It's his choice though, not mine." With that Pepper collects herself up off the couch walks to her rooms several floors up.


	11. Chapter 10

"Would you like visitors, Mr. Stark?" A nurse pokes her head into Tony's room. He looks up from his cell phone where he'd been browsing the internet for his name.

"Who is it?" He asks, hoping that it's Pepper.

"They say their names are Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner and Thor." The nurse keeps a level of professionalism in her voice that Tony admires. Knowing full well the young girl is practically bursting of excitement having the Avengers assembled in her waiting room.

"I wouldn't mind company for a few minutes." Tony shoots her a lazy smile. She blushes before walking quickly away to show in his company. In her absence Tony situates himself into a more comfortable position where he won't look so pathetic.

"How's it going, man?" Clint is the first into the room, he takes up a perch in Tony's window.

"I've been better." Tony admits, setting his phone down beside him on his bed. He watches as the other Avengers file into the room.

"You all worried about me or something?" Tony tries to break the silence when no one speaks. He offers a chuckle, but no one else follows suit. His laugh dies off in a painful way.

"Of course we're worried about you." Banner mutters, a slight green tint to his skin as he glares at Tony. "The way you've been acting lately… we'd be insane if we weren't. Even before you pulled this little stunt."

"From what I remember, Dr. Banner, you aren't really in a position to lecture me." Bruce shrinks back slightly, he suddenly wishes he hadn't told the avengers about his past.

"I think that gives him even more grounds to lecture you on." Steve like always, adds his two cents.

"Look, I don't want a lecture." Tony suddenly deflates, his mask falls and all the Avengers see how broken he really is. "Just… either tell me stories, or get out."

"So the other day..." Clint launches into the story of how Natasha broke the toaster the previous day, eliminating all tension in the room and fulfilling Tony's wishes.


	12. Chapter 11

Howard checks Tony out of the hospital before the doctors want him to leave. Pepper tries to argue with him, but he refuses to listen. Tony doesn't care when he leaves, as long as they allow him too. That had been his greatest fear once he had woken up, that they would never let him leave. That he'd be forced to live in a hospital for the rest of his life. So when Howard enters his room for the first time since he's woke up and tells him to get ready to leave within five minutes, he does as he's told.

Once they're in the car together, and only when, Howard speaks to Tony.

"You know, I'm not really in any place to lecture you."

"You're right, you're not." Tony tightens his grip on the steering wheel, an old memory coming to the surface of his brain.

"But, Tony, I want you to know. I care."

"Look me in the eye and tell me that, then maybe I'll believe you." Tony continues to stare straight ahead, even though the car is stopped in traffic.

"I forgot how difficult you can be." Howard chuckles as if realizing who his son is for the first time.

"I forgot how much of an ass you can be." Tony lies.

"No you didn't." Howard surprisingly picks up on Tony's attempted deception. "Tony, I know I've done wrong by you. And I'll be making that up to you until the day I die, but I need you to realize that your life is one worth living."

"You know nothing about my life." Tony presses down hard on the accelerator, turning off onto a back road to go around traffic. After he had become conscious and the press managed to get wind of what had happened, Pepper and Howard had had him transferred to a center outside of the city. He had stayed only long enough to make sure he was detoxed and in good (at least for Tony) health.

"I know more than you think I do."

"Try me."

"I know about Afghanistan."

"No one knows about Afghanistan, other than I was taken prisoner there and I managed to make an Iron Man suit while in a cave."

"Well I know that much than. And I'd like to know more." Tony snorts. "I know about Pepper."

"Only because she told you."

"Doesn't it say something that I listened to the hysterical woman who I knew nothing about, other than you were formerly romantically involved with her." Tony only grunts.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Tony sounds more and more like the teenager he used to be.

"Son..." Tony cuts off whatever Howard was going to say by turning on the radio. He puts his favorite AC/DC cd into the player and turns it up as loud as it will go. Like all his cars, Jarvis is installed, so no matter what Howard can't turn down the volume. Which eliminates any possibility of them continuing a conversation.


	13. Chapter 13

"Welcome home, Tony." Pepper extends her arms for a hug, expecting him to walk into him but instead he walks past.

"So, you broke my toaster?" Tony walks into the kitchen where the majority of the avengers are gathered. He passes past their shocked faces to the back wall where the device is usually kept. He finds it shoved into a cupboard, he clucks disapprovingly as he takes in it's state. Clint's description of it's murder hadn't done the body justice. "I'm sorry, dear." He says looking over the toaster to see if it's eligible for resurrection. He decides it might be, but further diagnostics with tools will be needed. He places the toaster on the center island.

"Why do you guys always break my stuff?"

"To be fair, the toaster started it." Natasha defends herself. She has a slight smile on her face. Tony looks much better then he had the weeks leading up to his incident as they had all agreed to refer to the events leading up to his hospitalization.

"A simple fist fight maybe, you both walk away with a few scratches. You're the one who decided it necessary to brutally murder it."

Natasha shrugs. "I'm an assassin, it's what I do."

"Remind me never to get in a fist fight with Natasha, Jarivs."

"That's one of my primary functions, Sir." The AI responds in his usual sarcastic way.

"So Tony, what are you going to do now?" Bruce asks cautiously.

"You mean now that I've been in the looney bin, do I want to rejoin the Avengers. Not really, Big Guy."

"That wasn't..."

"Yeah, it was. Don't lie. I'm not mad about it, just kind of fed up. You see, the Avengers, we don't exist anymore. Even before I left, we didn't exist. Not really. There was no reason for us too, people, they didn't want us to exist. Since SHIELD fell, I've been monitoring their thoughts on us, and they thought we were not more than vigilantes, we answered to no one but ourselves, and well we caused more damage then we ever stopped. The Avengers aren't a thing anymore." Tony turns to walk away, Steve's hand lands on his shoulder.

"Do you really think that, Stark?"

"I really do, Captain. And nothing is going to change my mind. We're still friends but we're not comrades. If you want to keep this little adventure going, by all means if you can find the funds continue to base it from here, but I'm not going to be your cash cow anymore. Not unless you find someone to answer too."

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Stark."

"I'm headed to Dapaul for a few weeks. I'll see you all later." With that Tony summons his suit, walks out onto the flight deck and takes off.

"Steve." Sam runs into the room out of breath. "I found him." It takes Steve two seconds before he's taking off at a dead sprint behind Sam, who leads the way.


	14. Chapter 14

" _You're an idiot."_ Tony can't escape the voice in the back of his head. _"How fucking stupid can you be?"_

" _Get out of my head."_ He shouts desperately, the action sends his limbs sprawling, temporarily forgetting he needs to operate the suit. JARVIS quickly takes over, piloting the suit when he notices Tony can't pull himself out of his own head.

" _They've always said your smart. But how smart could you really be? I can't get out of your head, Tony, I'm you. You and I are one and the same. For me to go, you'd have to go. And we both know how well that worked the last time you tried."_

" _Stop it."_ He whimpers aloud.

" _Then you stop it."_ The voice, which appropriately sounds like Howard, thunders. _"Pull yourself together, or at least hide yourself from other people. I mean really, you've held it together for so long. Yet the words of one man are pulling you apart at the seams."_

" _I'm fine."_ Tony says, trying to push the voice out of his head.

" _You're not, Tony. You might have been able to lie to people for years, but you can't lie to me."_ The voice sneers. " _I mean come on, why would you want too? You've lied to everyone else, pushed them away. They don't want you around anymore. You're a liability. That's all you've ever been. Why do you think SHIELD only wanted you to be a consultant. Your father made them, they should have wanted you. But they saw the truth, you're no Howard Stark."_

" _I don't want to be him."_

" _Oh, but you do. You want it every single day. How could he disapprove of you then?"_

" _I don't care what he thinks of me."_

" _You and I both know that you do, Tony. I thought we agreed you'd stop lying to me."_

" _Get out of my head."_

" _I can't, you piece of shit. You think I want to be in here, trapped with your thoughts. There is no way you can be the son of Maria and Howard. A nurse must have made a mistake at the hospital, you're not half as smart as Howard."_

" _You're wrong."_

" _Am I? Howard would never forget he's flying through the air."_

Tony's eyes snap open, the suit was falling. He must have ordered JARVIS to shut down, because all of his screens are black. He's free falling over the Atlantic ocean. A scream leaves his lungs as he struggles to remember how to operate the suit. Seconds before he hits the water he's able to regain flight power. He turns his music up loud, to the point where it's deafening to drown out the voice at least until he reaches his destination.


	15. Chapter 15

When he lands at one of his seldom visited homes, Tony immediately exits the suit it feels as if it's suffocating him. As he stumbles to the liquor cabinet, he instructs the suit to enter sentry mode, not wanting to be caught off-guard in case one of his old buddies lurks here. Once he has a bottle of scotch, aged thirty-five years, he finds his way to a couch. He pulls a blanket out of the ottoman which he carelessly drapes around his shoulders. He then sits down and while sipping his glass of scotch allows himself to get lost in thought.

 _"_ _Back for some more are you?"_

 _"_ _I don't exactly have a choice, you won't leave."_

 _"_ _It's not as if I have a choice to stay. Believe me, there are places I'd much rather be than stuck here in your mind. I'm you, stupid. You and I can't be seperated."_

 _"_ _I beg to differ."_ Tony takes a long drink polishing off the glass, remembering that he has no one to judge him here, his next drink is right off the bottle. " _You were gone for a while."_

 _"_ _I never left, just kept silent."_

 _"_ _Want to do that again, it was nice."_

 _"_ _I'm just getting warmed up, Tony."_

 _"_ _Was afraid of that."_

 _"_ _Get a glass, or are you an alcoholic now?"_

 _"_ _Might as well be, everyone already knows I'm a lunatic."_

 _"_ _It's so kind of you to finally admit that."_ The voice snarks.

 _"_ _I hate you."_

 _"_ _Hating me is the same thing as hating yourself, Tony."_

 _"_ _Yeah, well, I hate me too."_

 _"_ _Good. Shall we get started."_ Tony has drifted off, the bottle of scotch falls from his hands onto the floor, some of it's contents spilling over Tony's pants on the way down. His body slumps sideways, falling over to a more comfortable position, in sleep Tony clutches the blanket closer around him.

" _Might as well, you never listen when I say no."_ With that the nightmares start playing. As a special treat his mind decides to recreate Afghanistan, those are always Tony's favorite nights.

"Pepper are you sure this isn't an invasion of his privacy?" Clint so far is the only person in Stark Tower's private quarters that has yet to agree to Pepper's plan of spying on Tony while he's in Monaco. Only Natasha knows why, and while she understands Clint's own personal connection and issues with the idea of spying on Tony, she doesn't agree with him. They all believe that Tony's in danger more when he's by himself then any other time.

"It is, but it's not illegal. Tony's the one who gave me the codes to access the cameras."

"Are you sure he hasn't changed the codes?"

"They're the same ones Happy has, so I don't think so." Pepper shows Natasha the piece of paper with the pass codes so she can enter them.

"Clint, we're doing this for his own good." Steve says, laying a hand on his teammate's shoulder.

"What you think is for his own good, might lead to his own self destruction." Clint snaps, causing everyone to turn their heads toward him.

"You're not exactly the best judge of things like that Clint..." Banner ventures.

"Yeah, well, maybe not for most things. But, I..." He runs his hand up the back of his neck repeatedly extremely uncomfortable with talking about himself. "I get this. I know what Tony is going through."

"How could you possibly know that, depression, it's not something you can understand unless..." Banner's eyes widen. Himself having been depressed before, he knows what Tony is feeling. Which is why he thinks they need to know what Tony's doing, for all they know he could be putting a bullet in his mouth, like he had done, only Tony doesn't have the Hulk to spit it back out for him. "You've..."

"Not past tense." Clint's face is extremely flushed. His hand works furiously rubbing the back of his neck. He can't stop and he can't look at anyone. He feels his nails start to dig into his neck, and the flood of warmth the flow of blood has over his hand. He feels Nat, take his hand away and replace it with her own. Instead of rubbing she cups his neck, placing it over is scratch marks. Slowly Clint brings himself to look at Dr. Banner. "I am. Depression, PTSD, Anxiety, you name it I've probably been diagnosed with it." Clint looks back at the floor. "I've been…," Clint struggles to put his emotions to words, he grapples with his mind for an uncomfortable amount of time before coming up with a word that only begins to describe how his head feels. "messed up for years. Hell, I don't remember a time when I wasn't clinically something. I've got problems for my problems." Clint begins rubbing his hand together continuously uncomfortable as every eye in the room is on him. "And I know I hate it when people see me at my worst, it usually makes me feel even worse not that I think that's possible. What Tony needs,…, what I think he needs, isn't us spying on him. He needs alone time, and support in that alone time. Sure he might hit a low, but he's already hit rock bottom, and I don't think he's going back not for awhile. When I hit, it's months before I can go back."

"If you're depressed, and all that other stuff, how come none of us knew?" Steve asks concern and pity clear across his face as he looks at Clint. Clint's hand's twitch for his bow, he hates looks like that.

"I've learned to deal with it, so I can be functional. But that takes time, and want. I needed to be functional because of my job, so I made myself cooperate. Tony isn't in the same kind of position, he won't come back from the ledge out of necessity, we've all got to show him that we care. That we want him to back down off the cliff, that's the only way he'll try to fix himself. You guys invading his privacy, that won't accomplish anything except maybe give him a push off the cliff when he finds out. And he will find out, JARVIS, will tell him."

"We all respect your opinion, Clint." Nat says, grabbing Clint's hand. "But it's not going to change our minds."

"Yeah, well, I'm not going to be apart of it." With that Clint gets out of his chair and storms out of his room to the gym, he has a sudden urge to shoot every arrow he owns, possibly even the ones that explode. " _Maybe they'd listen to him if he put an arrow through their monitors."_ Clint shakes his head, he really shouldn't think things like that, Coulson would have benched him for a thought like that. _"Coulson isn't here now is he."_ Clint smirks as he steps into the gym, extending his bow, shooting is exactly what he needs to do right now.


	16. Chapter 16

"Anthony, wake up." An unfamiliar male voice startles Tony awake, the house is dark and it's the middle of the night so he can't make out the person's features. He silently calls the iron man suit, oddly even though in sentry mode it hadn't reacted to the strangers arrival.

"Who are you?" Tony sits up, his eyes shifting from the man to where the suit has appeared in the door. He feels comforted with it just being nearby. Rubbing his eyes, Tony picks a disguarded bottle of scotch up off of the floor. Among piles of takeout food containers and dirty dishes, he finds a relatively clean glass, with shaky hands he pours himself a glass. Before the stranger had woken him, he'd had a pretty brutal nightmare.

"I've gone by many names, but you can call me James." The stranger sits down next to Tony on the couch without being invited, Tony's not all that surprised as he's also in the house uninvited.

"Alright James, call me Tony. I haven't been called Anthony since the days I lived with my mother and old man; even then that was only when I was in trouble."

"Alright, Tony. I've come to tell you something."

"I assumed that, James, not many people would break into my house otherwise. Why'd you come in the middle of the night?"

"Long story, you don't want to know it all, but the short version is this is the only time I could come."

"Fair enough." Tony passes James a clean glass and the bottle of scotch. The man pours himself a glass but doesn't drink from it. "What is it you came to tell me?"

"I'm surprised you're taking me being here so well."

"It's a long story why, but truth is it's nice talking to someone."

"Well, you might not think it so nice in a minute. You know about Hydra and SHIELD right?"

"Of course, the Avengers were created by SHIELD and we've been fighting Hydra since we realized it was still around."

"Well I assume you also know that your father founded SHIELD."

"That information was shared with me a while back, yes."

"Well, eventually he figured out that Hydra was inside of SHIELD, Hydra found out. Before he could do anything about it, or even tell anyone what he knew they ordered him killed by their secret weapon."

"My parents died in a car crash, James."

"You never hit another car, Tony." In the darkened light, Tony is just barely able to make out James' face but he sees remorse there. "The Winter Soldier killed your parents. I'm sure you know about him by now."

"Yeah, I do..." Tony's voice sounds distant, James' words have brought old memories back to the surface.

 _It's the night after Tony graduated from MIT. They're in the family town car, Howard and Maria are both drunk. Tony keeps wrinkling his nose in disgust. It's pouring rain outside, they're headed home after Tony's graduation party. A new driver is taking an odd way home, only Tony notices. Howard and Maria are being oddly affectionate toward one another, not many people know this, but Maria and Howard never loved one another. Howard's heart always belonged to a girl he couldn't have, and while Maria thought she could grow to love Howard she never had. Tony had grown up in a house where Momma and Daddy rarely spoke, yet alone payed attention to their son. He'd been raised by the maids and butlers of their various estates. That was why Spanish much to his mother's horror was his first language. It was why he called Jarvis, dad, in private. Their lack of love had caused Tony to grow up in a loveless house. So, while most teenagers would be appalled to see their parents making out, he wasn't even interested._

 _They were going around a curve beside a cliff when it happened. The car started sliding in the water, or at least that's what the police report said, Tony always thought that the driver had made the car spin like that. They had spun toward the rock luckily and not the cliff, the back of the car had wrapped it's way around the boulder first, the impact had killed Maria instantly. Howard, who hadn't been in his seatbelt was thrown from the car and out the side window. Tony had watched his father's body slam against the rock, he had known he was dead. Oddly, Tony who had been wearing his seat belt was left relatively unhurt. He'd escaped the deadly accident with a mild concussion and a mark that resembled a hickey on his neck. The worst of his injuries had been mental and not physical._

" _What about the other memory."_ The voice in his head mocks.

" _Hallucination."_ Tony snaps at the voice, he's sure that this memory the one he just uncovered is the real one. " _Hope, want, need, driven false memory."_ He assures himself.

 _They never found the driver, body or alive. The police thought he might have been thrown from the car and rolled off the cliff into the ocean. Tony who vaguely remembered the sound of a car door opening afterwards had other ideas, but he never voiced them._

"You're saying the car accident wasn't an accident, that the driver caused it." Tony voices his own suspicions for the first time ever. "You're saying that the Winter Soldier was the driver."

"Why do you think you're still alive?" James' words send chills down Tony's spin. "The Winter Soldier only ever killed his targets, never another sole. He wasn't ordered to kill you so he made sure that you wouldn't die in the accident."

"Why would he do that?"

"Because, you can never completely ruin a man." James, pushes his hair out of his face for the first time fully looking at Tony.

"You're cap's friend, Bucky." Tony doesn't know how he recognizes Barnes, he's changed a lot from any photo he's seen but he knows it's the man. "You're the Winter Soldier."

"I was the Winter Solider." Bucky corrects, taking a large gulp off of his scotch. "I'm better now, brainwashing is gone. That's why I'm here, actually, I remember things from my time at Hydra. One of those things I think is pretty damn important for you to know."

"And what's that?"

"You and I both know that your father died in that car crash. I checked the body for a pulse, he was gone. The paramedics determined he was dead. So why is he walking around New York?"

"You're saying Howard Stark has a clone."

"Not a clone, a simple facial mask that changes his appearance to that of Howard Stark. You've been around him, tell me, does he act like your dear old dad?"

"No, he acts a lot different than I remember dad."

"Hydra wants a Stark on their side, a real Stark. They think that if Howard asks you do something, like say, go back into the weapons business, you'll do it."

"They're wrong about that, Howard and I never got along."

"They're probably starting to realize that. I think you're in trouble, Tony. If Hydra can't use you, they'll have you killed."

"Is that why you're still running."

"Yeah."

"How did I know how to find Howard, if he really is a Hydra clone. It's not like I had written instructions, it was a memory that lead me to him."

"No, it wasn't." James passes Tony a file. "It was a story you read, maybe it felt like a memory, but Hydra poising as SHIELD gave you that file years ago."

"How do I know you aren't still Hydra?"

"Would you work for someone who brainwashed you?"

"No, but you might still be brainwashed."

"I'm not, trust me, if I was you'd be dead. Hydra never sent me to talk, I was always the muscle."

"So, what do we do about the fake Howard?"

"We kill him." James has a grim look on his face.

"Why are you helping me, again?"

"I've done a lot of wrong in my life, Tony, I'm just trying to start doing some good again."

"Fair enough, but I wouldn't exactly call killing doing 'good'."

"It's good when the target is Hydra. Now are we going to do this or what?"

"Let me get my suits."


	17. Chapter 17

"You have the location?" Tony speaks for the first time in hours, he notes that his voice comes across as hoarse.

"The giant ass tower with a large A on the side of it. Everyone in Manhattan could have that location pretty easily if you asked them too."

"Good idea." Tony watches as Jarvis begins pulling up the tips section of all the local media's web pages. "They should be there by the time your jet lands in New York." Tony had offered James a suit to fly back in, but the man had adamantly refused. Tony had then arranged for him to take his private jet. As a result, James was still somewhere over the middle of the ocean. They had decided that Tony should return to the tower until James touched down to make sure that the fake Howard remained in an easily accessible place, as well as oblivious to their partnership.

Tony lands on the outer deck of the tower. An alarm goes off, he has Jarvis power it down. As he walks into the building, he's greeted by the eager faces of his former team. His arrival seems to have taken them by surprise.

"Tony." Pepper pulls him into an unexpected hug. He allows it but doesn't return the act of affection. Wanting to keep up the appearance of normalcy, he continues past her to his bar where he pours himself a small drink. He pretends to sip off it, but doesn't really. He needs to be sober.

"Where's Howard?" His father is the only person missing from the welcoming gathering.

"He's down in one of the labs." Clint is the one to answer. "He left a few hours ago."

"Call him up." Tony instructs Jarvis while migrating to the sitting area. "I have a few things I need to talk to him about."

"Anything exciting happen in Dubai?" Natasha asks innocently. Tony notes that for some reason Legolas reacts negatively to her question.

"Just the usual." Tony muses taking a small sip of his scotch. "Girls, booz and relaxation."

"Sounds nice." Nat, Tony notes, at least sounds genuine.

Before she can dive into whatever it is she wants to talk about Tony's phone rings.

"I'm in New York." The gruff voice barks into the phone. "Do you have eyes?" At that moment the elevator doors open to reveal Howard.

"Yes." Tony mutters. As Howard comes forward, Tony hugs him. He almost immediately cusses himself out silently, as Howard's suspicions are immediately raised. "How long until you get here?" Tony asks, moving to a mostly concealed desk, he picks up some papers he's been meaning to deal with.

"Five minutes."

"Perfect. See you then." When Tony hangs up the phone six sets of curious eyes meet his.

"Who was that?" Steve asks trying to keep any real interest hidden. Tony notes that he fails miserably.

"My lawyer." Tony walks over to Pepper who is seated on the couch and hands her the papers.

"Why's he coming here?" Howard asks taking half the stack of documents from Pepper to look at.

"I've been talking to him a lot the past couple of weeks. I've got a lot of legal documents I need to attend too, and today seems like the perfect day to do it.

"You're removing me from your will?" Pepper looks at Tony a loss for words. He's almost moved by the fact that tears have gathered in her eyes.

"Only sections of it. You'll still be entitled to half my estate, should you wish to have it when I die."

"What are you removing me from then?"

"The section pertaining to you becoming the primary owner of my shares in Stark Industries. My shares will be split up amongst everyone in this room sans my father should I die."

"Why would you do that?" Clint's perplexmxent is easily understood due to how Tony had recently been acting towards them all.

"Why wouldn't I?" Tony asks innocently, casually glancing down at his watch, he silently begins summoning his suit.

"You hate us." Steve has also began reading the documents. "What makes you think I'd want to run your company?"

"That's a misprint." Tony lies, perfectly timed the elevator dings. "That's meant to say James Buchanan Barnes." With his words, James steps off the elevator, guns drawn and pointed at Howard. The Avengers immediately jump into a fighting position. Tony's suit arrives and he steps into it. He joins Bucky. They enter a face off.


	18. Chapter 18

"Tony what's going on?" Howard holding up his hands goes to take a step forward only to be met by Bucky cocking his gun, he retreats back the step.

"What's going on is my father died when I was seventeen. I watched him die, and so did James. Now you want to tell me who the hell you are?"

"I'm your dad." Howard takes a step to hide behind Clint.

"No you're not. My father would have never shown me the compassion you are. He would have never let me fall into depression. He would have smacked me upside the head and told me to buck the fuck up. Now who the hell are you?"

Howard moves to retreat more. Tony nods to Clint, who grabs him and flips him to the floor. He then grabs Howard's face to pull away the mask.

"Told you." Bucky says stepping forward he grabs the imposter off of the ground. "Hydra." With that he hits the man over the back of the head knocking him out. He then throws the body over his shoulders. "Thanks Tony. Call if you ever need anything." With that Bucky retreats back into the elevator.

Once Bucky is gone Steve steps forward stunned. "How did you find him?" He demands from Tony. "I've been looking for months, where was he?"

"No idea." Tony shrugs and pours himself a drink. "He found me, not the other way around."

"Why was he here? What did he want?"

"Exactly what he got. Hydra."

"Where did he go?"

"No idea. Didn't ask."

"Why not?"

"Because Steve I understand what it's like just wanting to be left alone to do your own thing. I realize that I can't have that, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be able to."

"Your infuriating." Steve bellows, his face bright red with anger.

Tony only shrugs in response. "I don't care about what you think of me Steve. I know it's not going to be positive. Ill be locked in my lab if anyone needs me, but try not to let that happen." As he turns to go Tony remembers Clint. "Thanks again Clint. I knew you weren't as bad as everyone else."


End file.
